Does Social Media Help or Hurt?
Posted by Becky Carroll on March 31st, 2009
Jason Baer authored a thought-provoking blog post over at MarketingProfs Daily Fix blog. It puts forward the question of whether customers who are using social media are getting preferential treatment. Jason is a really smart guy, and he asks it this way:“Are we inadvertently creating a Customer Chasm, where those who are socially media active are receiving preferential treatment compared to those who are not? And not just in customer service, but in customer acquisition too?”
He describes great customer service being given over Twitter as an example; if the customer experience in other channels isn’t as good as the Twitter channel, then there could be preferential treatment taking place (which could ultimately drive changes in behavior). He suggests we should be thinking through how we use social media and whether we are intentionally giving this “better treatment” to customers. I highly suggest you go and read Jason’s entire post, as well as the discussion in the comments.
The Real Question
This conversation is right up my alley. Of course, I had to respond. Here is what I have put forward:
What we really should be asking is how we want to treat our customers overall. What is the customer strategy? Most companies don’t have one, so they use whatever is easiest and cheapest (read: most convenient for them) to interact with customers. Treating different customers differently is a great strategy, and one which we used with our clients when I worked for Peppers and Rogers Group (1 to 1 Marketing approach).
I applaud the customer interaction opportunities that social media brings to an organization. However, as I have said both in my blog and to my social media students, it is only one channel of interaction. Encouraging and rewarding customers to use a channel that is more cost efficient is a fine strategy – if that is indeed the strategy. If we are interacting with customers via social media just because it is the new, cool, hip thing to do, what will happen when something else comes along? Will we continue to keep up the social media interactions?
The real question to ask is where our customers want to interact with us. Listen, then use those channels to reward them for their business and for referrals. Thank them for being a part of your organization. Intentionally create a rockin’ customer experience. When we do this, whether those interactions were by phone, mail, or online, the word of mouth will spread!
Help or Harm?
Now to you, my readers. What do you think? Is social media indeed creating a “customer chasm” as Jason suggests? Should customers interacting via social media channels get a different experience? Please tell us your thoughts, as well as your experiences, by leaving a comment below.
(Image credit: photoauris)
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April 1st, 2009 at 4:39 pm
I totally agree.
I view interacting with a customer or potential customer on Twitter the same way I would approaching one who emails or calls or one that I happen to meet in the Denver airport… which actually happened.
April 1st, 2009 at 4:42 pm
‘Chelle, thank you for your viewpoint. Social media is indeed another interaction channel, and I believe customers want to be recognized in any channel where they choose to engage with an organization. The Denver airport, huh? You must have really been on the ball. Would love to hear that story!
April 1st, 2009 at 7:25 pm
Becky -
Thanks so much for the kind words. For me to inspire you is an absolute thrill, as I have giant respect for you and your work. (and, you’re just super fun to be around).
Meanwhile, I completely agree with you premise of determining a customer service strategy. To me, there’s not enough attention being paid to integrated customer experience. How do we want to treat customers across ALL channels (phone, Web, social media, mail, email, at POS, etc.). My good friend Maggie Young at Red Flag Consulting is the queen of this program. She consults with companies to unify their customer experience so that the packing slip in the box has the same approach as the on-hold message, etc.
You’re so right that the usual thinking around this is “how can we reduce our average cost per customer contact” which certainly doesn’t always breed the ideal customer relations scenario. Interestingly, however, that’s why I think there’s so much promise for Twitter-based customer support. It’s both less expensive for the company, and (seemingly for now) more desirable for the customer.
Thanks for bringing me back into the loop on this topic. I hope more is written about it in the coming months.
Hope to see you in sunny CA soon.
j
April 1st, 2009 at 8:00 pm
Hi Becky, Great Post
This has me thinking a lot about what we are doing. The first eaxample that comes to mind is the fact that I can get a completely differnt, and in my opinion better service experience form Frank @comcastcares via twitter than from the comcast service help desk/phone call. Now, I love and support what comcast is doing and how they are changing the way they deiver service, via twitter as opposed to traditional means, but it seems that is the point of the post.
So, I analogize our own small business and how we are embracing the new social media channels, however, to your other point, Social Media happens to be where our demographic, at least for the most part is hanging out. For example, we get a significant number of inquires, service requests etc through our facebook page. That is not exactly convenient or efficient for us as an operator, but we are adapting, because that appears to be the tool of the day that our customer wants to utilize to communicate. But when you are a small shop, it is challenging to be able to service and monitor the various venues.
Life used to be simple, there was a phone book and a phone and an in box. It is much different today.
April 2nd, 2009 at 8:38 am
The Denver story. That was kind of awesome, actually.
I was there for a 3 hour stop before heading to a final destination. I sat down beside someone working on their computer and I noticed she was in our software, Business Plan Pro. That actually happens a lot, I’m happy to say. It makes me smile to randomly come across someone who is in the middle of writing a business plan. Business Plan Geek!
Anyway, she was working away but then I heard her muttering about not being able to figure something out, so I introduced myself and offered some help. I showed her how to find the function she was looking for, showed her how to access the help files that would help her in the future, and showed her a couple other things that might help her along the way. It made her happy and got her working again and made me feel like I’d been helpful.
April 6th, 2009 at 4:51 am
Becky, Thanks for posing the real question. Social media should be used as part of an overall customer strategy, not as an excuse to avoid customers. Otherwise it’s just another way the squeaky wheel gets the grease. For excellent example on how to implement a social media program for customers, see @Eric Brown in the comment above.
April 7th, 2009 at 1:20 pm
Becky, great thought-provoking article (in addition to Jason’s post). I’ll repost my comment that I provided on Jason’s and add a small bit.
IMHO, I think many companies are using social media as a tool and not necessarily a strategy. It’s another marketing tool that enables them to reach and engage a broader audience. In some ways, I don’t see social media as a far cry from what most companies do to capture new customers or retain their loyal customers, via incentive (sign-up/enroll online & get a $5 credit, or use coupon code ONLINE and get $10 off, etc).
In Response to Jason: As to ‘unfair’, wiktionary.org defines unfair as: “In a manner that is unfair, which is not just.” I don’t think companies are being unfair by embracing the social media revolution. In general, each customer has the opportunity to also embrace these social media streams (Twitter, Facebook, etc) and potentially use them as leverage. Unfair, from my perspective, is limiting your customers reach or punishing them for what they are not able to readily access; which I don’t believe is true in most instances.
It’s a competitive business environment, if companies don’t start embracing the Web 2.0 revolution, they’ll surely fall behind or not meet their full potential. I don’t believe social media has created a customer chasm. It’s another tool that’s used to engage customer’s that have chosen social media as their ‘convenient’ method of interaction. Would we have had this same conversation when the internet first became so main-stream?
Thanks for getting those wheels turnin’ in my head this afternoon =)
October 9th, 2009 at 5:54 pm
depending on how its used it can only help. my 2 cents
October 24th, 2009 at 8:11 am
Many companies choose internet marketing over other marketing ways because they can act swiftly, gather feedback and respond to it more efficiently. Does it harm customers who do not use social media? Yes, but since everyone is now expected to use at least one social network as a matter of being trendy and modern, the majority of customers prefer that way.
October 24th, 2009 at 8:20 am
I just re-read this thread of conversations, and this has been quite the topic! I still firmly believe that we should be engaging with our customers via whichever channels they prefer – internet/social media, phone, email, or face to face like ‘Chelle. There should not be a channel preference internally nor a leaning towards “social” because it is cheap/cool/hip. This should be a strategic decision that is echoed across the entire customer experience.
Thanks for all the great comments, folks!
November 30th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
I agree with Becky, companies should engage in customer service over as many channels as possible. One major advantage to the social component is that it is time inexpensive and public. That doesn’t mean that it creates a gap just because one service is visible and another isn’t.
I think my wife and I are a solid analogous example. She doesn’t do the “internet social thing” so she makes phone calls circa 1948. I hate the phone so I often use social media to resolve customer service issues circa 2012.
If a company only offers the phone *which many still do
I find myself having to engage over a medium I hate. Unless companies start shutting down their 800 numbers I don’t think we are creating “customer chasms” we are just expanding our engagement.