Customer Service and Social Media

It’s not often you’ll find exceptional customer service these days. You may end-up speaking with a customer service rep who clearly dislikes their job or a rep who is simply apathetic to your need. In fact, good luck if you even speak with a human. Many customer service phone lines are touch-tone menu with the expectation you’ll resolve your issue on your own. Bah humbug to crappy customer service, right?

Social media has opened the door to personalized customer service, timely responses to customer needs and wants, trouble-shooting tech issues and cultivating a relationship with customers.

Suggestions for how you can improve customer service via social media:

• Respond to questions and comments on Facebook within 24 hours
• Reply to tweets within 24 hours
• Retweet your answer if you feel it adds value to the rest of your customers/followers
• If you don’t know the answer, reply that you’ll circle back shortly with the information
• Be honest. Customers do not like “playing games” or “feeling in the dark”
• If a big issue erupts, affecting a majority of your customers, it’s best to simply do a Facebook update acknowledging the issue and your commitment to find a resolution.

Some brands that get customer service right on social media:

• Zappos: Facebook and @zappos_service
• Hootsuite: @hootsuite_help
• Zazzle: Facebook and @zazzle
• Best Buy: Facebook and @twelpforce
• Jet Blue: @jetblue

What brands have you seen do customer service right on social media?

Shop. Click. Submit. Repeat. #CyberMonday

Raise your hand if you took advantage of the Cyber Monday deals!

If you’re not familiar with Cyber Monday, it’s the Monday after Black Friday when eTailers share ridiculously crazy deals. It’s bananas! Deals like free shipping on your entire order, free upgraded shipping, buy one get one free, additional 25% off, etc. Crazy good deals people. According to the National Retail Foundation, more than 122 million people will shop online today, Cyber Monday.

Did you get some shopping done? What are some deals you enjoyed?

All day on Twitter people were sharing deals via #CyberMonday hashtag and many enjoyed receiving alerts from eTailers such as Juicy Couture, Food Network and more.

Augmented Reality the New Black? Examples.

Technology is pretty awesome, right? I mean, there are times it works against us (i.e. paper jam in the printer, dropped calls, hacked email account, etc), but there are times technology makes us smile, laugh, hug, etc. The reason I mention this is because in a matter of 48 hours I have read stories of three different campaigns involving Augmented Reality (AR). You’re probably thinking…Augmented what?

Augmented reality is when our real and very physical world and the digital world become one.

Here are the three campaigns I recently read about and was eager to share –

Mickey Mouse brings Disney Magic to New York City

National Geographic invites shoppers to interact with dinos, animals and more

Lego.com allows visitors to have a 3D interaction with select products

Augmented reality may be the “new black” in digital marketing and viral campaigns. AR allows social media and digital marketers to bridge the gap between the brand, service and/or inanimate objects and US…the consumer/guest/client. The scope of creativity is wide and I cannot wait to see what’s on the horizon for AR.

What AR campaigns have you seen and/or experienced?