Let’s cut to the chase—as a brand, social media is either your best ally or your worst enemy. If used well, social media can be your marketing arm, and, if your followers are in the thousands, a credible source of consumer data. But even more importantly, social media is your very own channel for customer service and customer relations.
Building rapport is now easier than ever with social media, it’s really up to us to take advantage of this awesome tool. Companies either make it or break it in social media, and there are a handful of brands that truly make it work for them.
Here are 5 brands that are having some real and fun conversations on Twitter, and what we can learn from them.
People often take it to Twitter to ask random questions, and Levi’s knows enough to have someone answering them. Especially questions like this one, which can easily be converted to a sale.
Taco Bell is notorious for making quick, witty and romantic comebacks to tweets, and people just love it!
These short tweets may not have gone majorly viral, but you know that they made the day a little brighter for that one person they replied to. Doing these small acts of Twitter-kindness each day becomes a great deal put together, and therefore creates a bigger impact to customers and potential customers alike.
I suppose it’s impossible to make a list like this and not have Zappos in it. Zappos, sometimes more known for its exemplary customer service than the shoes they sell, is making its own dent in Twitter too.
Like when this guy took to Twitter his search for a specific pair of shoes, and Zappos took it their job to help him find the shoes he’s looking for.
Everywhere in the web, even through word of mouth, we’ve seen Zappos get out of their way to make their customers feel special and attended to. Their “obsession with customers” have translated itself in its Twitter feed, all for everyone’s good.
Customers sometimes find it more convenient to take their questions to Twitter, and if they’re lucky, someone replies almost instantly. Reminds us to have someone manning our Twitter accounts and start answering those questions! Not only is it good for online reputation, it’s also a great tool for responding to customers faster.
Jetblue responds gracefully, even to customer feedback. That’s not to mention that they respond generously to all types of tweets too, be it appreciation, or question, or requests.
Here are two twitter dialogues with customers, see how Jetblue responds to them.
See what JetBlue did there? First they tried to help by asking questions, and then expressed appreciation for the feedback, and then appreciated the customer for being great. That’s a lot of grace right there.
Engaging in dialogues with customers often alleviates the dissatisfaction and keeps the conversations in a positive light. This makes their image more approachable to customers, allowing for more dialogues and, in turn, more opportunities to improve their service.
We’ve seen these 5 major brands take their Twitter accounts seriously. How about you? What are you waiting for?
‘Awesome’ may be overstating it as bit. These tweets are great for one to one customer service and engagement with individuals – pretty well useless for any wider marketing purpose. “If used well, social media can be your marketing arm” – maybe yes for online retail; no for fmcg brands where social media is conspicuously bad at delivering awareness (and sales) of any significance.