Friday, October 19, 2012

With or without you

     Customers are having conversations about companies, with or without the company’s involvement with those discussions. Someone in Cord’s comments suggested the way to engage with customers online is to have your PR department be new media-savvy and do the correspondence. Having the “traditional” PR person as the one to respond concerns me, as I believe customers are looking for authentic responses, not carefully crafted company statements.
     Creating a place on your own site, such as a community or a blog, is a great way to keep the conversation in your backyard - as long as you allow comments and take the time to respond. Southwest Airlines has done a good job of engaging with customers online, and they use their blog as a feedback channel for ideas, concerns, and questions. Everyone at SWA takes the time to write and respond, including pilots and the CEO. For example, their recent business decision on whether or not to assign seats was put to their customers in a few different blog posts; the most recent one elicited over 360 comments!

     Source: Customer service: the art of listening and engagement through Social Media (Brian Solis and Becky Carroll) e-book

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