| FollowFriday : On any given Friday, thousands upon thousands (maybe even millions) of Twitter users enter the hashtag #FollowFriday (or #FF), followed by one or more “mentions.” The idea is for users to share the names of other “interesting people” that they follow and think you should too. These recommendations serve as positive comment cards for the digitally inclined.
JumpstartMyPC.com has decided to bring FollowFriday to our blog. Read on and, if you are so inclined, add these “interesting people” to your own list. |
FollowFriday – Round 7
The way a company resolves a problem says a lot about their outlook on customer service. Any company can say that they care about customers, but the only true test is how they handle their mistakes. Over the years, I have made it a practice to write emails/letters to corporate offices and managers any time I encountered a difficult situation with their product or employees. From my experience on both sides of the “customer service fence” I know that the written word has much more power and weight than a verbal encounter with a front-line employee. Not only are you often offered something in return for your time and heartache, you also make the company aware of the details from the top down (their organizational hierarchy). For a company that truly cares, this means change. Employees are reprimanded and policies are corrected.
In this weeks FollowFriday, we’ll take a look at several companies that have either handled difficult situations via Twitter or have embraced the power of Twitter to involve, educate and respond to their customers needs. So not only can you take advantage of receiving information, you can also begin using Twitter to send information.
ComcastCares is the customer service Twitter account for Comcast. The first thing you might notice is the image (shown on the left) is of an individual and not a company logo. Frank Eliason (the Customer Service Senior Director) started using Twitter early on to monitor the Comcast name and, from what I can tell, knows the importance of individual attention and customer relationships. A quick review of the recent comments shown on the Comcast Twitter page shows a long list of answers to customer inquiries.
I featured Comcast this Friday because of a story that I read on TechCrunch titled Comcast, Twitter and the Chicken. A customer went 36 hours without his high-speed internet, basically because the main point of contact (Comcast phone support) couldn’t resolve his problems. It only took 20 minutes after the customer’s first Twitter message about the situation before he received a call from a Comcast executive and got the issue corrected. That’s quite a difference – 20 minutes versus 36 hours!
Twitter: http://twitter.com/comcastcares
Web Site: http://www.comcast.com – You can use the “chat” feature from the Comcast web site to talk with customer service. I have had positive results here myself.
Facebook: Comcast on Facebook – not really for customer service and not used often.
ComcastCares on Twitter
ATTCustomerService is one of the many customer service pages for at&t. According to socialmediatoday.com, at&t sends out about 1,000 tweets per day and has 15 full-time customer care reps. The Twitter page for this account (like Comcast) displays the image of an individual and is filled with responses to customer questions, complaints, etc.
at&t also has a presence on other social media outlets like Facebook and YouTube. Using YouTube for instructional videos and introductions is a brilliant idea. For U-verse customers there are tons of videos on problem solving, wireless connectivity, remote control help, etc. I personally would rather watch a video than try to talk to a help-desk representative, who has probably never used the device in question.
Web Site: http://www.att.com/contactus
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ATT (in a bold move, customer comments are available)
Twitter: http://twitter.com/ATTcustomercare
YouTube: http://youtube.com/ATTCustomerCare
at&t Customer Service - nice Twitter page!
Best Buy TwelpForce is the Twitter initiative from the electronics super-giant Best Buy. While I am still not sure what to think about the service or the concept, it seems that this method of customer service is very popular. Over 25,000 followers are using TwelpForce to answer questions about purchases, store policies, individual item specs, etc. You may have seen the commercials for this idea, where Best Buy employees fill a football stadium and answer questions about products for customers.
If you are a Twitter user and have a question in need of a quick-response, this might be just what you were looking for. All you have to do is add “@Twelpforce” to any tweet. I haven’t tried it myself, but I might just have to field-test this one on my next venture out to BB.
Web Site/Twitter: http://twitter.com/twelpforce
Best Buy Connect (other web site): http://bbyconnect.appspot.com/
TwelpForce is There to Help... If you Twitter
Try out one or all three of the sites we recommended today and check back next Friday for more great #FollowFriday recommendations. Don’t forget, if you want to share this article with friends or family, all you have to do is click on the ShareThis button below.
Tags: #FF, at&t, Best Buy, Comcast, customer, customer service, Facebook, Follow, FollowFriday, Friday, Service, Twitter
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