Before the year 2005, any customer service blunder would only reach a handful of individuals. With the rise of Social Media, there are quite a number of outlets that will grab a hold of such incidents.

Which can potentially have a very large negative impact on the company in question, as such information reaches such a large amount of individuals within practically no time. So in essence, what companies used to get away with in terms of poor service will be hard to accomplish in these circumstances where the customers have a large deal of control over the brand.

The scenario depicted above is purely an example where the reaction is taking place on a medium where the company has no real presence on a similar platform. Which is a vital mistake if they want to rectify and acknowledge their mistake before it becomes a negative impact on the company.

Possible applications for Social Media based customer service:

• Twitter support account;
• Facebook page;
• Skype for chat / voice chat;
• Windows Live Messenger;
• Web based chat;
• Forums.

Twitter can be utilized in such a way that customers can leave a message for the company at any time; the only downside for this medium is the restriction in terms of amount of characters used. Limiting the users to a short inquiry, which might not always be sufficient for their particular problem.

However it can be responded to with a phone call from the company after an exchange of information, giving the company enough time to comprehend the situation at hand fully and thus give the customer a concise and clear answer without further delay.

Customer service & Social Media presence

As described above, not having a Social Media presence can be deadly for your company. Only utilizing it for damage control would already be a lifesaver in many situations, this alone can reassure customers that their problem is acknowledged and looked into.

It can even give grounds for the company to contact the customer by phone, offering their help with whatever their issue is at the time. Taking it one step further would be to provide the actual support via the social media platform instead.

The American company Comcast already provides this service next to their call centers, utilizing Twitter (@Comcastcares). Their Social Media based service consists of ten employees working eight hours a day to maintain full community engagement across several platforms.

Customers can post a message for example via Twitter, where the response they get is near instantaneous. The timing on this allows the customer to forget about the lengthy queue they can experience when trying to reach a call center, receiving a personal response from a Comcast employee to ensure that their inquiry is being looked into.

General responses include a confirmation of service interruption in a specific location, querying for the account phone number so a local representative can call the customer that initially contacted @comcastcares and basic tips for known problems.

Customer service via Social media however is still in its infancy, making companies such as Comcast, Jet Blue, Dell and various others pioneers in this branch. Pioneering in an area where no clear rules of operation have been defined as of yet.

This particular fact makes it clear why so few companies have taken to going down a similar road. With no real long-term established players on the market, it becomes a risk to fund a new department or subset thereof to create a social media based customer service.

Combining the two

Considering the deterrence to conjoin Social Media with customer service, it is important to lie out the necessities that have to be taken into account when one does decide to pursue this course of action.

Primarily as a motivation as well as rationalizing why a company should not hold back when trying to innovate and improve when making the choice for this particular service. Giving a concise overview of possibilities that are readily available for a company to learn from and eventually utilize. Using Social Media as another tool in the customer service arsenal allows a company to be proactive when it comes to complaints, considering that it is possible to contact customers regarding a complaint that they have not contact your company about.

Doing so shows the customer that you find it important to assist customers, aiding them with any difficulty they might have. Empathizing with a customer on a personal level as you assist them with your product or service will have a good chance of creating a new loyal customer.

Ultimately

Every new tool or technology needs innovators that lead the way for others to follow. While this is already true to an extent for Social Media, many more will have to take point in their particular sector and succeed in order to convince the masses to follow.

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There are five simple reasons that should convince anyone to engage in Social Media.

·         Attaining more traffic

·         Building your brand

·         Improving your reputation

·         Social Media Optimization ( Provide more ways for individuals to find your content)

·         Creating meaningful relations by engaging others

Now who would not want that? Not to mention that apart from a time investment, it is free of charge.

It is a new tool in the arsenal to find interesting individuals and companies alike. Refusing to progress in the world of technology will hamper you from engaging the market properly. There is always someone out there willing to show interest for your cause, who has the option of sharing you with his or her world. Which in turn can lead to new contacts where the cycle starts over again.

In essence you are opening up a new area to find potential customers, simultaneously extending your reach due to the fact that all the content is publicly accessible by anyone using the internet.

Next to that you are interacting directly with your target group, placing yourself in their environment and thus gaining better insight in their habits and relevant interests. Attaining a better understanding of the market in that sense which can provide fruitful opportunities to develop a product or service that was built up on the wishes of the customers. Due to the fact that the ability to listen to ones potential customers was given by Social Media.

Antithesis

How many individuals are actually involved in Social Media? A study done regarding the usage of Social Media during one month, listing statistics per country with work and home situations combined shows the following.

(Average % reach of Active Users: 73.1%)

These numbers represent individuals already making use of the internet, taking a look at the actual amount of internet users in Europe alone shows us the following.

Source: http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats4.htm

These statistics indicate that you won’t be able to affect 41.6% of Europe directly through the internet, along with another 26.9% you are unable to reach directly through Social Media platforms. 

Once we have considered these statistics, the next thing we need to look at is the type of business is considering to partake in Social Media.

·         What size of company are we dealing with?;

·         How are the various forms of media utilized at this point in time?;

·         For what end goal are these forms of media being used?;

·         Where is the target group established?;

·         What forms of media does the target group use to communicate?

The size of the company is directly related to the amount of working hours can be invested into Social Media and time means money.

How the company is currently interacting with its clients is relevant to the skill level of the employees in terms of the various forms of media, if no one in the office has the necessary skills to introduce the company to Social Media. It would have to be outsourced, while this may not affect the larger companies as much. The smaller companies are much less likely to possess the assets to cover such an action.

As far as the end goals are set for the various types of media, we have to look at the target group simultaneously. If they are not active on the internet and can only be reached by phone, what use would it be to announce the company presence via Social Media?

Synthesis 

Social Media is not for everyone, when it is desired to be utilized for corporate usage it becomes evident that extensive research will need to be done into the target group. This should lead to an indication whether or not Social Media can actually become worth it.

Learning how to use Social Media correctly will allow you to get a better understanding of the market and what they are looking for. Naturally you want them to look for your company. When your customers are engaging in conversations where you are being mentioned, you want to be there listening. Giving you an edge in market intelligence because you are not out of touch with your target group.

Ultimately Social Media allows a company to extend its reach, allowing far more individuals to become interested in your company due to coming across material they find through their own network.

Social Media and the internet are here to stay and world is constantly growing more accustomed to it. If you cannot be found on the internet in this day in age, you will be falling behind your competition who is taking the risk to explore new territories.

Whether or not that those that do not incorporate Social Media will feel the effects from their respective competitors already is doubtful, for now at least. As Social Media is still upcoming in the corporate world, it will eventually overtake the majority of the companies. Just as corporate websites and e-mail did before, it will not be as much of a choice as it is a requirement.

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Rallied my co-workers at Getlogic ( http://www.getlogic.nl ) to join in on International Suit Up Day ( http://www.facebook.com/internationalsuitupday )

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Another interesting situation can arise when a company implements Social Media: the individuals involved the most with Social Media (who can become very passionate about sharing knowledge and ultimately promoting their brand), will end up in a situation where their professional life will have a greater impact on their personal life.

This poses an interesting question, due to the fact that the doors of Social Media do not close at 5 o clock. Does it imply that a company should only engage in Social Media during working hours? Social Media is a continuous process that does not ‘take a break’. While the individuals working with Social Media may not perform their actual duties, they will be able to continue sharing interesting things they encounter during their non-working hours.

Active Social Media users do not ‘disconnect’ over the weekend; it is part of their routine to share and assist people via Social Media. What kind of effect does this have on people who utilize Social Media for a living? It simply remains to be a way to share knowledge and information that you would otherwise share as well.

When the motivation is present and is tied to a person’s life in such a way that it becomes normal to interact in such a fashion, it can be assumed that the individual’s work and leisure can begin to merge. If situations like these become the de facto standard for professionals, how will this affect the general business ethic?

When looking into the balancing act between the personal and the professional, we need to consider the following: Social Media is based upon showing your real self, as well as generating chemistry with your friends/clients. A situation like this assumes that in turn, people will become interested if you have something relevant to say.

When examining ourselves, we already fulfill many other roles in our social lives, roles that affect one another and our professional lives. However, these situations do not apply to everyone, due to the fact that Social Media is not used by every individual to pursue marketing success for his or her company.

The factors affecting this balance are extremely variable and dependant on the culture of the company implementing Social Media in their workflow.

However, looking at it from the opposite side: what if our personal and professional lives are becoming one and the same? Where does this leave professionalism? An individual will react differently to negative feedback from a professional standpoint than to negative feedback from a personal standpoint.

In a third kind of scenario, a company could have both of these positions integrate, based on the fact that the individual implementing the Social Media techniques is the same person at work and at home. The only change that occurs is the change in emphasis during conversation, which is tailored to what is appropriate for the situation at hand.

This does not differ at all when we look at our daily interactions, considering family, friends, co-workers. We all act differently depending on the group we are currently engaging with. Creating the integration between the personal and professional would seem to be no different to the practices we employ in our various other social circles.

This is also where a Social Media policy can clarify purpose and intent for anyone doubting what stance to take. Furthermore, we must remember that anything that we post can be seen by the world. Keeping this in mind, in combination with a common sense to dictate our decisions regarding what to post, we should have a baseline from which we can begin to build a more comprehensive implementation of Social Media in our businesses.

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