Comments on: Does Social Media Help or Hurt?

By: James

James — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 16:18:36 +0000

Since this article was posted Twitter has gotten a lot more publicity in the media, it seems now that business are trying more and more to embrace Twitter (as they should imo). I think its going to be the way of the future to communicate with customers – especially for the younger demographic. It’s certainly something I’d like to use for our business and we’ll be looking into for sure now!

By: Alex

Alex — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 18:13:02 +0000

I think the response businessmen and entrepreneurs receive from their customers through social media can never be replaced by any other strategies because the Internet is the only place where we interact instantly with thousands of people instantly and this is the wonder and feasibility of social media. However, i also agree that we have to ponder on where the customers want to react more? but still I believe social media has already loyal customers.

By: Mike

Mike — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 21:03:33 +0000

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.

By: Becky Carroll

Becky Carroll — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 15:20:24 +0000

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!

By: Office Cleaning Edinburgh

Office Cleaning Edinburgh — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 15:11:44 +0000

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.

By: Carpet Cleaning Edinburgh

Carpet Cleaning Edinburgh — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 00:54:48 +0000

depending on how its used it can only help. my 2 cents

By: Lewis B

Lewis B — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 20:20:35 +0000

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 =)

By: Jay Ehret

Jay Ehret — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 11:51:15 +0000

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.

By: 'Chelle Parmele

'Chelle Parmele — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 15:38:31 +0000

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.

By: Eric Brown

Eric Brown — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 03:00:55 +0000

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.