SXSW 2013 Sampler

Customers Don’t See Silos 7
told they are in the wrong line. Sometimes the brand replies directly
to let them know that this place (Twitter or their Facebook page)
is not the right spot for talking about whatever issue they’re having.
More often, and worse, no one is manning the account at all, and the
customers and their issues are simply ignored and left sitting there.
One of the worst things you can do online as a brand is write
in your profile, company description, or even hidden in your notes
that your page is ‘‘not the place for customer service complaints or
inquiries.’’ People don’t usually read everything about you on your
page before commenting. They just won’t see it, and that’s why it is
such a big problem.
We run our businesses through silos. There’s human resources,
marketing, and public relations, and then there’s customer service.
We use these to keep us organized and make sure everything gets
done. The thing is, customers don’t see silos. They see your brand
as a whole. And every time they don’t get a response or are told that
they’re waiting in the wrong line, it hurts your brand. If you have a
Twitter account, that is your company. Your Facebook wall is your
company—it isn’t HR or customer service or PR; it’s you. We have
to realize that this online place needs to be more of a social traffic
control tower, automatically putting customers into the right line,
versus one that puts up walls and acts as a gatekeeper.
If you open up the social media doors and people start flooding in,
be prepared for them to flood in and say anything, not just what you
want them to say or ask. Set up something within your organization
so that whoever sees comments will automatically assign them to
the right department and reply to the customer. Be sure someone is
responsible for letting customers know your brand is listening, cares
about their feedback, is taking care of whatever issues may have arisen,
and has passed it along to the right people. There is nothing wrong
with asking a customer to e-mail you or phone you because you need
specific or private information that shouldn’t be shared online, but
make sure you tell them publicly in your reply.
All of these interactions with customers are changing your brand’s
impression every single day.
Right now, when people are driving down the road, they don’t see
the separate silos listed with your department names. All they see is you.
And we are changing that brand impression with every interaction.
Being great in social media needs to carry through the resolution chain.