NAFA – Not Another F*ck’n Acronym!

Yes, I’m proposing another acronym. Brands ignoring their customers in social media are forcing me to.

What do you call customer service within the social media channel?

I’ve heard Social CRM (Customer Relationship Management), Social Satisfaction, Social Customer Service, Social Media Engagement, Social Experience Management.

Not many brands are doing it well and I think I figured out why! There is no buzzword bingo yet! No cheesy acronym for consultants, marketers and sales people to overuse. Think about it, when was the last time an executive made a significant strategic investment in something that couldn’t be communicated in 3-4 letters?

CRM, ERP, SEO, SaaS, EBIT, EPS, ROI…I meant CEO, CFO, CMO, COO.

Just to make sure we are on the same page around what social customer service is, here is my very simple definition.  What’s yours?

Helping & acknowledging your customers wherever they choose to be serviced by your brand online.

It isn’t rocket science but here are a few examples;

1. Answering your consumers questions on your Facebook page.

2. Solving your customer’s problem in a forum community.

3. Thanking your customer who tweets about a positive experience with your brand.

I know what you are thinking. “Give me a break! Everyone knows this stuff.” I’ll prove you wrong!

Right now, tweet a complaint or question to 5 different brands. Come back and comment on my blog with the results. I bet you get a response from 2 companies, 1 of which won’t meet your expectations.

I had a negative experience recently with Disney, the king of the customer experience. I tweeted my issue twice, crickets!

Like a bolt of lightning it hit me! How could anyone take action with no acronym?

So lets come up with something together right now so we can all get on with solving this customer service crisis.

SSAT? I like social satisfaction but contact centers don’t say “I provide Email Sat (ESAT) & Phone Sat (PSAT).” We don’t need an acronym for every communication channel. Don’t we already have too many?

SCRM? CRM has been around for 13-14 years and we still haven’t agreed on its definition. Don’t get me started!

I’m struggling, so whenever I’m stuck on a customer service problem I stop what I’m doing and put myself in a customer’s shoes and look at the issue from their view-point. So what would a consumer call social customer service?

AMQDS – Answer My Question Dip Sh*t

PHMJA – Please Help Me Jack A**

YCDIMOT – Your Competitor Didn’t Ignore Me on Twitter

I think we are getting closer, I need your help! What do you think?

The Super Bowl Commercial No One Has the Guts To Make!

My all time favorite commercial is the Google Chrome: Dear Sophie spot.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4vkVHijdQk

Yes…I’m a dad and yes I have a 3-year-old little girl named Sophia.  But that is just coincidence, it highlights how creating an emotional connection with customers can create a memorable advertisement.

As an evangelist for customer service I’m excited that more and more companies are increasing their awareness of consumer feedback with all the new communication channels customers leverage like Facebook & Twitter.

However, I haven’t seen any brand with the guts to really put their money where their mouth is and dedicate a Super Bowl spot to customer feedback.

So if you are listening Ogilvey, Edelman or BBDO I have your new creative piece!  You can promise your clients it will be worth every single penny of their millions on this 30 seconds.

For the purpose of this blog post, we’ll say it’s an ad for Ford since almost everyone can associate with having car problems.

World’s First Super Bowl Commercial Featuring Customer Feedback….Take 1…Action!

(Cue the goose bump raising violin and piano music like in the Google commercial above.)

80-year-old man addressing a hand written letter to the Ford Customer Contact Center address.

70-year-old woman dialing the  Ford customer service 1-800 number.

60-year-old typing in an email to customerservice@ford.com.

50-year-old clicking the chat icon on http://www.ford.com.

45-year-old looking at some online self-service FAQ’s (Frequently Asked Questions) on Ford’s contact us page.

40-year-old browsing a Ford auto forum.

35-year-old blogging on Ford’s community page.

30-year-old posts a complaint on Ford’s Facebook page.

25-year-old tweets a question to @Ford.

20-year-old uploads a YouTube video of Ford’s channel.

18-year-old checks in on FourSquare on his trip to a Ford dealership.

17-year-old posts on Ford’s Google+ profile.

16-year-old uploads a picture of her brand new car on Ford’s Pinterest canvas.

15-year-old sends a text to a Ford vanity code.

Ford CEO in the background while each of the above images are playing says, “We wish we made perfect cars, but unfortunately they are designed, built and serviced by people… and people sometimes make mistakes.  No matter what generation you’re from or how you would like to share your feedback with Ford, we want you to know we are listening and we will take action.”

“Thank you Ford customers”

What a Swimming Pool Taught Me About Social Media?

I am the guy at 6.30am dreading that first dive into the cold lap pool.  The pool is full of people sharing swim lanes, fortunately I stick to the slow one.  In case you were wondering, it’s the lane identified by people without goggles and swim caps.  If you require further confirmation, look for the people like me missing the skin-tight Speedo, but sporting the same bright orange suit (with pockets!) I wear when I go to the beach.

Swimmers of all skill levels are respectful to one another as long as you respect the swim lanes.  Surprisingly, there is never anyone bumping into each other, lots of people can swim together, presumably with the same goal in mind of staying in shape as long as you stay in your swim lane.

This got me thinking about a common challenge I’ve seen with clients looking to improve customer service within social media.  Marketing/PR/Agencies are brilliantly creating vibrant customer communities on their Facebook, Twitter and YouTube channels.

In addition, consumers are migrating away from traditional customer service channels like phone, email and chat.   Moving towards Facebook, Twitter and other social communities for service further growing the online conversation.

This presents a challenge: Who is the right internal team to respond to each of these consumers?  How do you keep from bumping into each other without swim lanes?

For example, Sony has over 2 million fans on Facebook.  Their customers have questions about promotions, future products, technical questions, fans uploading photos, quality complaints, where to buy questions and thousands of other engagement opportunities.

So who owns the response to these simple examples?

Marketing, public relations, communications, agencies, customer service?  Shouldn’t product management have a say? Legal? The answer is YES! To do it well it’s certainly a team effort but everyone has to know their role and understand their swim lane.

Here is a quick example of what swim lanes may look like for a fictitious consumer electronics company.

Marketing/PR	Customer Service
Future Product Questions	Product Complaints
Campaign Complaints/Inquiries	Product Suggestions
Crisis Communications	Existing Ownership Product Inquiries
Paid Blogger/Influencer Interactions	Warranty Questions
Upcoming Events	Rebate Questions
Charity/Environmental Concerns	Thanking Customers For Compliments

 

If each team stays in their swim lane, each customer can get the outstanding service they deserve with the most knowledgeable company ambassador engaging them. (assuming you have tools in place that can route interactions based on swim lanes, that is for a future blog!)

Let’s face it, the goals and metrics within social media are different in each part of the organization.

Fundamentally I think it can be broken down like this; Marketing/PR = Acquire & Engage Customers in Social Media.  Customer Service = Retain Customers.

If customer service were asked to create a compelling Twitter campaign that drives followers and click thru to a new product launch on a company website, they probably wouldn’t know where to start.

Likewise, if a social media analyst at a top agency was monitoring Facebook for one of the Big 3 and saw a customer post saying “I hear a loud grinding noise from my back rear wheel when I travel at low speeds, does anyone else have this problem?” Where would they even begin?

This is the value of swim lanes, social media is expanding and its a team effort to give each customer a great experience.

Whenever I take my three children, 6, 3 & 18 months to go swimming in the kids pool with no swim lanes its pure chaos.  Running everywhere, bumping into each other, dunking, splashing, someone ends up crying and who knows what else. (peeing in the water?)

Adding swim lanes to your organizations social media strategy can ensure calmer waters for you and more importantly your customers.  You wouldn’t want them swimming in yellow water would you?