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Delivering customer service through social media

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What is social customer care?

2008 saw the emergence of social media, particularly Twitter, as a means to provide customer service. Companies such as Zappos, ComCast, SouthWest Airlines, BestBuy, JetBlue and Dell in the US led the way, with their counterparts in the UK - BT, The Carphone Warehouse, ASOS, EasyJet, Virgin Trains not far behind.

Since those 'early' days, the novelty value derived from receiving a Tweet from @ComCastCares, @ATTCustomerCare, @BTCare or @ASOS_HereToHelp has given way to a sense of expectation. The belief that companies should be using these social technologies to engage with customers is increasingly commonplace.

The social media customer service toolset is expanding all the time and now includes social technologies such as blogs, microblogs, video, audio, ratings and reviews, geolocation, the increasing ubiquity of the smartphone and the proliferation of apps. All this alongside the traditional channels of email, call centre, IVR, chat, store, WOM, letters.

The result is a far more fragmented and disjointed landscape. And it is here that customers have become far more vocal than ever before. The onus is now firmly on companies to not just talk about being customer centric, but to actually deliver on it as well.

As The Cluetrain Manifesto says: If you want to barter with us, get down off that camel!

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This 'lens' has been set up to try to bring together some of the blogs, videos, and increasingly rich variety of resources and make them available to anyone interested in this subject.

This is very much a work in progress - and I am aware that some of the information is a bit outdated, but it will be updated over the coming weeks. There are no rules as to what information should be found here, so please read, share and let me know what else you'd like to see here.

Thanks for taking the time to visit and I hope you find it useful.

@guy1067

Table of Contents

  1. The toolset
  2. Some people to follow...
  3. Companies
  4. What's next?
  5. Your thoughts on 'what's next'...
  6. Resources
  7. Companies providing support via Facebook
  8. Blog posts
  9. Social media customer service RSS mashup
  10. #Custserv
  11. Presentations from Slideshare
  12. YouTube videos
  13. Events
  14. Training courses
  15. Social media book recommendations
  16. Your comments and feedback
  17. Featured Lenses

The toolset

I will try to turn this into something a bit more visual in due course, but for the moment here is an attempt to try to define the social media customer service toolset. This is incomplete and it's just my view, so please do let me have your feedback about what needs to go in and how we can improve it.

Core tools: Microblogs (ie. Twitter, Tweetdeck, Seesmic, Twhirl, Brizzly ; CoTweet), Blogs, Facebook, YouTube, forums (traditional?)

Information: Wikis

Geolocation: Four Square, Gowalla, BrightKite

Internal comms: Yammer

Monitor/Feeds: Google Alerts, Google timelines, Whostalkin, RSS

Communities: ComTweets, Crowdvine, Ning

Don't forget about: Google Sidewiki, Google Maps, Flickr, AudioBoo ; Skype

Independent complaint sites: ComplaintCommunity, Plebble, Amplicate, Complaints Board, Rip-off Report, Customer Service Scoreboard, Measured Up, Pissed Consumer

Independent rating and review sites: TripAdvisor, Pownum, Yelp

Independent help engines: Cofacio

One to watch: Augmented reality

Tools: Get Satisfaction, Zendesk, Hy.ly, Bearhugapp

Monitoring tools: Radian6, MBuzz, Scoutlabs, Sysomos, Alterian

Traditional tools: Email, call centre, IVR, chat, letter, store, WOM, fax

Some people to follow...

I thought about creating a list of people to follow, but in the end decided to just list some of the people I follow. I think these people would be included in most lists, and as you create your own network, hopefully you will treat this simply as a starting point. And in no particular order...
  • @drnatalie
    @bsdalton
    @ericjacques
    @briansolis
    @pgreenbe
    @armano
    @peterkim
    @jowyang
    @charleneli
    @rwang0
    @mich8elwu
    @ekolsky
    @bob_thompson

Companies

Here's a list of companies doing interesting stuff in this space. This does not set out to provide an exhaustive list, but more examples of companies doing it well or differently.
  • Doing something different
    - BestBuy (US): The creation of 'Twelpforce' was probably the single biggest step forward by any company doing social media customer service out there.
    - Zappos (US): They just provide great customer service. This is a company where providing 'WOW' is embedded in the culture. They don't just talk about it, they do it.
    - ComCast (US): This is probably more for historical reasons than anything else. Frank Eliason (@ComCastCares) is generally looked upon as pioneering the use of social media within customer service.
    Dell (US): Simply for generating US$6.5 million and increasing revenue from Twitter.
  • Doing something in the UK
    - The pioneers: BT (BTCares), EasyJet (EasyJetcare), Carphone Warehouse (CPWCares), Virgin Trains (VirginTrains)
    - Doing interesting stuff: Vodafone (Twitter), BT (Twitter, Community, YouTube), TMobile (Twitter, YouTube, forums), PayPal UK (community), TalkTalk (forum)
    - Doing great stuff but not well known: Wiggly Wigglers (Twitter, podcasts, Facebook, blog, video)
    Ones to watch: ASOS, First Direct

What's next?

Here's a few thoughts about some areas to look at for change within social media customer service. Please let me know yours.
  • Public sector: budget cuts will force the public sector to find new ways of delivering existing services. What role will socil media play?
  • Augmented reality, geolocation - what will be their true impact on social media customer service?
  • Twelpforce - but what's next? I am a fan of BestBuy and Twelpforce, but this model still has the company at the heart of the interaction, what happens when the company is simply one of the players alongside all the other players?
  • Zappos: Are they the end game or simply a stage along the way? We know they can provide WOW customer service, but is that enough for them?

Your thoughts on 'what's next'...

Please share your thoughts about what you think will be the trends, the changes, the companies that will make a difference to how customer service is provided via social media.

Don't forget to add your name, link to your site, Tiwtter Id etc.

  • SoniaRoody Jan 27, 2011 @ 1:25 am | delete
    For me, if companies will add social media as their tool of giving customer service to their clients, things will get better. Especially nowadays people are really into social networking sites, for them it's the most accessible way of addressing their concerns to their respective companies. But for faster response to your concern, call centers in a company are still required. Ad I think if these kinds of servicing are applied, it will make the company's customer service better.
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Resources

Here are some links to a variety of resources on social media customer service
Where social media meets customer service
LinkedIn group containing lots of articles, comment and insight.
Twitter customer service list
List of companies providing customer service via Twitter
Social media customer service videos
Archive of videos on social media customer service on YouTube
A visual social customer care primer
For those starting out on their social customer care journey, here's a visual primer of some of the major events, people and videos that have helped to shape the emergence of social customer care.
The #CustServ daily
A compilation of customer service related articles and posts
Customer Service Chat Facebook group
Exploring the Best Practices & Issues of Customer Service
The Customer Service Dialogue
Jointly developed and co-hosted by Marsha Collier and Jeffrey J Kingman, The Customer Service Dialogue facilitates online discussion of customer service in today's society
#CustServ weekly dialogue via Twubs
Weekly discussion on customer service co-hosted by @MarshaCollier & @JeffreyJKingman
Social media under one roof
A whitepaper discussing how to integrate social media across the entire customer lifecycle
Best Service One
BestServiceOne.com is the customer service portal for CustomerThink.com
Web Strategy by Jeremiah Owyang
Not about social customer care specifically, but always worth reading as it will keep you informed about what is happening in the social space.
Social CRM Pioneeers group
Great discussion group with excellent input from all members about Social CRM.
The Social Customer
The moderated community for social CRM and customer service professionals
Social Media Governance
Lots of examples of social media policies from a cross-section of companies, as well as many other useful resources
Exploring the use of Facebook as a customer service platform
Facebook page exploring the use of Facebook as a customer service platform.

Companies providing support via Facebook

An increasing number of companies are trying to understand how Facebook can be used to provide customer service 'at source'. Different approaches have been adopted including:

- support tab powered by third party vendor such as Parature or Get Satisfaction. Typically offering FAQs, live chat and ability to post a complaint or ask a question
- using the wall or discussion tab to allow people to complain or ask questions which are either ignored or responded to sporadically
- support tab that is a cut-down version of what a company would offer on their corporate web site
- support tab that simply has a link back to the company's corporate web site help section
-
Journal of the Americas Chemical Society
-
Rosetta Stone
-
Thomas Cook
-
Dell Support on Facebook
-
Vodafone UK
-

Blog posts

Engage121 Adds Customer Care; Further Enhancing Their Social Customer Service ...
NORWALK, CT, May 24, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- On the heels of being named one of Gartner Research's "Cool Vendors in CRM Customer Service and Social, 2012," Engage121, Inc. announces the release of a major enhancement to its social media ...
Social media customer service outsourcing hits the market
Business process outsourcing firm Aegis Australia says it has employed a team of ?highly-skilled social media conversationalists? to offer social media customer service outsourcing, saying online customer service may one day take over from call centres ...
Managing the impact of new media
Social media is rapidly changing the face of the customer service industry. Networking platforms like Facebook and Twitter have given rise to a new breed of customer ? one with a loud voice, and a number of very public platforms through which to make ...
What to Do With Antisocial Media
When this happens, keep in mind the following four principles for working with customers in a social setting. 1. Social-media customer service is, at its heart, customer service. And it needs to be done superbly. If you set up an expectation that you ...
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Social media customer service RSS mashup

I've tried to bring a selection of feeds from various sites about social media customer service. Some are more focussed on it than others, but I hope that overall you'll get an interesting and stimulating view of what people are saying and thinking.
May 22, 2012 @ 11:16 am8 Ways To Utilize MMS To Rock Your Sales Process from The Social Customer - The world's best thinkers on CRM and customer service
Far too many of us aren?t as familiar with, and certainly don?t really use MMS, or Multimedia Message Service. And that?s a shame. Because honestly, it can be a potent communications weapon in your sa...
May 22, 2012 @ 9:55 amSpeaker Spotlight: Chuck Feltz, Author, Never by C... from Customers 1st
May 22, 2012 @ 9:14 am3 Most User Friendly CRM's from The Social Customer - The world's best thinkers on CRM and customer service
There is a huge market for CRM management tools. There are several companies that promote products for small to medium size businesses to improve their CRM skills. None are perfect, but many have th...
May 22, 2012 @ 4:43 amTrustworthiness. Socially speaking, of course. from The Social Customer - The world's best thinkers on CRM and customer service
I wrote a post last week about trust that was prompted by a study I had read earlier in the week. This study suggested a causal relationship between CEOs' and other top business executives'...
May 22, 2012 @ 4:08 amSocial Media Marketing and the ?Lack of Time? Myth from The Social Customer - The world's best thinkers on CRM and customer service
I gave a presentation last week to an audience of event managers on ?How to Optimise Events for Social Media?. It was a lot of fun and, along the way, I quoted from a report by German events company,...
May 21, 2012 @ 8:28 pmThe digital interaction process: SCRM is different... from
Mitch Lieberman introduces his version of the digital interaction process. Has he cracked it? Is he close?     read more
May 21, 2012 @ 8:07 pmInfographic: Do Facebook 'likes' mean customer loy... from
 A new infographic from Our Social Times evaluates if Facebook 'likes' equal customer loyalty.          CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO ENLARGE. 
May 21, 2012 @ 8:03 pmWhen will I see the results of my customer experie... from
May 21, 2012 @ 8:03 pmCustomers less loyal to banks than assumed - study from
New research into bank loyalty has revealed service is more important to customers than brand names. Grass Roots surveyed over 5,000 banking customers of the main UK banks and found customers that ex...
May 21, 2012 @ 8:01 pmLiveOps adds Facebook channel integration to socia... from
LiveOps, a Cloud customer service provider, has announced the integration of a Facebook channel into its LiveOps Social application. The Cloud application leverages LiveOps Platform to manage social...
May 21, 2012 @ 8:00 pmVoC: What?s wrong with VoC and how do you get it r... from
May 21, 2012 @ 7:17 pmMicrosoft launches new social networking site So.c... from
Microsoft has launched new social network So.cl, aimed at helping students connect with their peers and share information. Pronounced 'social', the company described the network as “a...
May 21, 2012 @ 1:03 pmTake Lessons from the Leaders in Customer Service from The Social Customer - The world's best thinkers on CRM and customer service
Customer service needs to be more than just a smile and a representative having memorized the instruction manual. ... but there?s a world of difference between organizations that step out of the ?box?...
May 21, 2012 @ 1:02 pmCloudforce Calling London Social Businesses from The Social Customer - The world's best thinkers on CRM and customer service
Every company now lives in the social spotlight, whether business leaders know it or not. But if you?re new to the social business?or as Salesforce.com dubs it, the social enterprise?concept, don?t ge...
May 21, 2012 @ 12:32 pmTrustworthiness. Socially speaking, of course. from Customer Service Stories ..and other thoughts
I wrote a post last week about trust that was prompted by a study I had read earlier in the week.  This study suggested a causal relationship between CEOs' and other top business executives' pers...

Presentations from Slideshare

A few slidedecks that you might find useful.

Social Strategy: Getting Your Company Ready by jeremiah_owyang

 

Keynote: Three Ways Social Business Must Scale by jeremiah_owyang

Keynote: How Social Business Must Scale
 

YouTube videos

Various videos I have found on YouTube about social media customer service.
Social Media Customer Care - AT&T
by ShareATT | video info

6 ratings | 1,030 views
automatically generated by YouTube

Events

List of events to do with social media customer service
SxSW Panel Picker 2011: Twitter Killed Christmas & Other Social Media Myths Dispelled
This session created by Vikki Chowney (Reputation Online) will look at ways in which various companies that have seen customer service problems turn into serious online crisis might have responded and how social media could then have succeeded in turning a negative into a positive. Many 'social media fails' turn out to be nothing to do with the new technologies shaping this young industry, but a lack of response to customer complaints.
Conversation Commerce Conference
Marketing and customer service are on a collision course. Social media now shine a bright light on customer service interactions, which increasingly have brand implications.
Customer service in a social media world, 24th November 2010
Join your industry peers at the first ever dedicated social media conference for customer services. The day will address the opportunities and challenges presented by the fast rise of this powerful new medium. The programme is packed with the latest game-changing thinking, revealing up-to-theminute case studies from customer services professionals that are pioneering Social CRM.
National Complaints Day, 13th August 2010
Read about a roundtable that was hosted recently by Foviance discussing the impact of social media on complaints and customer service

Training courses

Social customer care - SOCAP-WOMMA
Excellent course from SOCAP-WOMMA made up of six sessions covering a variety of topics and presented by a variety of companies

Social media book recommendations

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Your comments and feedback

Please feel free to comment, provide feedback or make suggestions for this page so that we can turn it into a great resource for anyone interested in social media customer service.

  • videoproduction Mar 21, 2012 @ 8:26 am | delete
    Reduce Business Costs through the use of Customer Service Videos!

    One the biggest return on investments that can be achieved using online video is providing help, advice and guidance to common frequently asked questions and enquiries.

    In our experience an investment in a customer service video can pay back within just a couple of months.
  • videoproduction Mar 21, 2012 @ 8:26 am | delete
    Reduce Business Costs through the use of Customer Service Videos!

    One the biggest return on investments that can be achieved using online video is providing help, advice and guidance to common frequently asked questions and enquiries.

    In our experience an investment in a customer service video can pay back within just a couple of months.
  • SoniaRoody Jan 27, 2011 @ 1:29 am | delete
    For me, if companies will add social media as their tool of giving customer service to their clients, things will get better. Especially nowadays people are really into social networking sites, for them it's the most accessible way of addressing their concerns to their respective companies. But for faster response to your concern, call centers in a company are still required. Ad I think if these kinds of servicing are applied, it will make the company's customer service better.
  • Anthony Nov 16, 2010 @ 4:36 am | delete
    Good snapshot of the existing tools and services from a 360degree view.
  • mgassistant Nov 14, 2010 @ 1:33 am | delete
    Liked your lens! :)
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