Creating social media accounts on twitter seems to be the new fad. Twitter has been mentioned countless times on the news and celebrity talk shows. Everyone seems to be flocking towards twitter, especially companies. Businesses want to know how they can use twitter as a marketing tool. Twitter has caught the eyes of bigger corporations such as Dell, Starbucks and even Ford. Not only are these companies using twitter for brand awareness but they have created customer service accounts. Genius, in my eyes.
I was at a conference last Friday hosted by the Oakville Chamber of Commerce and an amazing guest speaker called Theresa Syer of Syer Hospitality Group talked about the customer experience. Syer basically said that the customer experience, the ‘WOW’ factor, is what is important now more than ever in a down economy. Usually when people think of customer service they think of terrible attitude, no acknowledgement and pretty much NO customer service. It’s important that companies train their employees to treat customers in such a way that when the customer walks away they are thinking “wow”.
After hearing her talk, I felt inspired. I thought long and hard about how social media can be that “wow” factor that most companies lack. So many people are on the internet and if companies are not there, there is a disconnect. However, with social media sites (such as twitter) available, companies can create that bridge that brings customers that much closer to companies. I was surprised to read an article this morning about the exact topic! Twitter customer service: the ultimate list of stores on Twitter talked about how companies have one account and that is for customer service. I thought this was brilliant because what better way to create trust than through great customer service.
So now instead of resorting to nasty phone calls and rants on blogs, customers now have the ability to contact the company through their customer service accounts online. This also gives the company a chance to redeem themselves and show that they respect customers who aren’t happy with their services or products and try to correct whatever issue they may have. This is especially great for companies because it shows prospect customers that they are transparent and care about their customer’s experience. It’s a win-win situation.
The Internet can be accessed by anyone, anywhere, at any time and thus has given customers more control than ever before. Being present in social media sites is essential for companies and what better way to “WOW” customers than by providing them with great customer service ONLINE.