Twitter is not just a channel which can be used to promote marketing campaigns or messages it can also be used in many other ways. Such as another channel for your customers and prospects to get in touch with you or even better to improve your customer service levels.
There are many companies out there who use Twitter solely for dealing with customer issues or resolving negative emotions online. Twitter can be a quick and intimate way of dealing with a small issue. Sometimes the issues can resolved over a couple of Tweets or for more complex issues they can be taken into a more private conversation and if necessary you have the option of taking the discussion offline. The point is that you need to be listening and you are ready to help when a negative emotion is published.
I came across this very interesting conversation between Southern Electric and a member of the public who was disgruntled about Southern Electric’s door-to-door ‘pushy’ sales tactic. Here is the conversation:
Tweet 1
Here it is – a disgruntled member of the family
20 mins later – response by Southern Elecric
4 minutes later
9 mins later – the issue is taken offline
As you can see, Southern Electric are listening and they are monitoring brand mentions on Twitter. The great thing is that they treated the matter quickly and as a matter of urgency, actually within an hour, which I am very impressed with considering if you tried calling some of these companies you could be on hold for the same amount of time.
Listening to your brand mentions online is important. Even though negative emotions are online and for the public to see, they can also see that you care and helped resolve issues quickly. Plus points for low-cost, high impact, customer service and reputation management.
Anyone else been on the receiving end of some remarkable customer service through social media? Let us know.
