Rich Baker: Customer service + social media = marketing

 

 

 

I've been consolidating some thoughts on social media marketing and customer service. My brain is often 'abuzz' with ideas and thoughts and that's why blogging is good for me - it forces me to clarify and shape my ideas into something I can then share with others. I recommend it if you don’t already.

 

 

My passion for customer service started young. In my late teens, I dropped out of university (I got my degree and moved on to a MBA later) and ended up ‘flipping burgers’ at McDonald’s. It wasn’t the first job like that I had done, but it was the first where I could see first hand the impact I could have on the bottom line by having conversations with customers that built relationships. I rose quickly through the ranks with that company, and learned to appreciate the business model that has made the company so successful. I then had 10 years with a Virgin group company, where I worked at a senior level on engagement, customer service strategy and also pioneered Twitter in the industry.

 

What has changed about customer service in that time? Well, the basics haven’t changed. It’s still about the conversations we have. It’s where we have them that has changed. Time is our most precious commodity, and that in part is responsible for the rapid technological changes we have seen in the last 10 years. So is globalisation, which has led to increased competition.

 

Competition has made differentiation vital. It’s important that you stand for something different. Why? Because your customers are less loyal to your brand than ever before. Consumers today are more savvy. The growth in the use of Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and other social media has presented a huge challenge for companies. Suddenly all those conversations people had in private suddenly became public.

 

 

Marketeers were the first to notice the opportunities online for their brands. There have been some brilliant viral video social media marketing campaigns. Once of my all time favourites was created to encourage people in Sweden to buy a TV License. An amazingly engaging solution to a fairly mundane issue.

 

 

The thing is, the low barriers to entry in social media mean that anyone can potentially reach millions of consumers in a way that in the past only companies with big budgets could. The web has become a brilliant leveller. It has democratised self expression. I can upload a video right now to YouTube (or Vimeo, etc) or set up a Facebook Group or use Twitter to highlight my personal experience with you or the company you work for.

 

Companies are no longer in control of their message. There has been a massive power shift back to the customer.

If you make a mistake using social media then it's in public. Everyone sees it. Often, it is a small but ethically ‘grey’ decision that causes the biggest tidal wave of ‘social media mania’. Journalists use social media for stories and as a result your mistake can often end up in a broadsheet on breakfast tables the following morning.

 

This isn't all bad though; whilst they won't admit it, lots of account managers and marketing directors are quietly thanking their lucky stars that someone else made the mistake before they did. It’s a fairly new game and many are still learning the rules of engagement.

 

It’s also an opportunity to build a better strategy by engaging with the very people you have let down. Great crisis PR in social media can often turn people onto your product better than being squeaky clean all the time can.

That’s why the whole marketing game is changing.

 

 

Customer service in social media IS marketing. It’s also online/crisis public relations. It’s the most powerful form of marketing there is: word of mouth. We capitalise and abbreviate it to WOM because we use the term so much! Did you know that brand loyalty is lowest among Generation Y? So if your target market is anyone aged 16 - 31 to them you had better have something else up your sleeve. This generation respond to The Truth.

 

By all means spend £x (insert your own figure here) on big flashy marketing campaigns if you want to but be warned that a big chunk of your target market won’t buy it (ask Pepsi). They definitely won’t buy it if your marketing doesn’t reflect the actual experience of using the product or service.

 

People, myself included, have often talked about brands ‘no longer in control of the message’ i.e. their brands are being commented on and talked about online all the time. Were we ever actually in control of the message? Maybe we could just influence it. Difference is, the conversation has moved online and so that’s where we must influence.

 

 

Customer service (and internal communications) is something lots of people in the business are involved in. A single person is not in control of the output. If you are a service organisation (and I challenge you to show me a business that isn’t) chances are most of your £spend goes on payroll for your customer service people. Your people are hired to have conversations, build relationships and help the business remain resilient.

 

If it is done well, customer service is linked to strategic human resources management. The people who are recruited are part of a wider strategy that should link the internal or employee brand with behaviour, training, development, performance management and remuneration. It's all part of a complex system. Senior people in companies spend a great deal of their time making sure everything 'fits' together so their offering is consistent, measurable and contributes to increasing the value of their proposition.

 

The growth of social media means a massive opportunity to differentiate on a much more strategic level. This can be on a corporate level, business unit level or on an operational level.

 

I’m currently exploring how we can rewrite the business school models to reflect a more responsive, democratic and flatter business structure. Get in touch if you would like to collaborate. Whatever social media people will be using in two years time, whether it’s Twitter, Facebook, Google Buzz or something else, we can be sure that the world won’t go back to the way it was. We are in the midst of a service revolution.