Belgian Beers, Canal boats & Customer Service (with a little Social Media thrown in)

Posted on | July 21, 2010

Did you ever play the ‘one of these things just doesn’t belong’ game? I didn’t like that game either, and in this case, all three of these items featured in my vacation last week. And to be honest, I was really only planning on the first two.

I don’t read (or, in fact, speak) Dutch, so in between excursions around the country, I was hungry to read anything that was printed in a language I could understand. I fell onto an old copy of US Airways’ magazine, and was struck by an article they wrote about companies engaging customers via social media.

I was struck because, somewhat unexpectedly, the article made a lot of sense.

The gist of the article was pretty straightforward:

‘Customer Service hasn’t changed. It’s still about the customer.’

Think about that for a second. I don’t know about you, but I’m usually bombarded by social media experts and online advertising gurus. There are lot of words that get thrown about. Buzz words. Dumb words. Scary words.

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
SEO
Pay-Per-Click

(your company doesn’t have a Facebook page????  PANIC!)

Anyway, what impressed me about the article was the focus back to the essential point:

Customer service is about the customer.

(That is one of the best marketing rules you will ever want to remember)

I’ll put it simply:

Social Media can be a hugely valuable customer service tool for your company, but don’t forget:

1. It’s about the customer.
2. It’s about the customer AND you
3. It’s about listening and interacting – not shouting

It was a good article, and it was an unexpected pleasure to read.

(also, the beer was excellent, thanks)

- j

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