Customer service through social media platforms; the good and the bad

In this day and age, a lot of companies that contain a customer service ‘arm’ are starting to leverage nontraditional means of servicing their customers.  Social media has provided companies with an easy way to interact with their customers, through Twitter, Facebook pages, and message boards; social media is a prime example of how a web-based tool can either greatly improve, or have a negative impact on customer service.  Based on real world experience, I am going to provide two examples of how social media can allow a company to succeed or fail when trying to provide customer service through online initiatives.

Let’s start with how a negative experience can hurt a brand as well as spiral out of control as a PR disaster.  On September 1st, Rogers posted a blog post on their social media hub called Rogers RedBoard stating that the Blackberry Torch would be available on September 24th.  They also launched a dedicated website, which as of right now still states the Torch will be available on the 24th.  There have been 100s of comments via the online forums on Rogers Redboard in relation to the launch of the Blackberry Torch in Canada.  After all, Rogers was the first Canadian carrier to commit to a launch before October 1st.

Up until yesterday, Rogers’s reps have been posting comments that the Torch is still slated to launch on Friday as promised, and as advertised.  I even reached out on Tuesday to Rogers online Community Manager and asked her directly about the speculation of the delay.  She replied back saying they don’t comment on speculation and that was it.  If bloggers and other internet news sites are posting information, one would think that their online community network would keep their customers informed.  Instead they continually assured customers that Friday would be the day.

I received 100% confirmation from Rogers yesterday morning (before anything was posted to their social media sites) that the launch has been pushed until next week.  Keep in mind bloggers were posting this information on Monday yet Rogers’s online community was tight-lipped about the whole thing.  These bloggers were quoting internal Rogers documents that were supposedly circulated to internal Rogers’s staff members.  This leads me to believe that there is a communication disconnect between Rogers corporate, and the Rogers customer service wing which includes their social media instances.  What this all boils down to is poorly managed customer expectations via social media outlets.  Now people are annoyed by the last minute change of plans and Rogers lack of communication beforehand.  Customers are now posting negative messages on Facebook, Twitter, and through the Rogers online community with some even talking about switching carriers.  As you can see, this can rapidly spiral out of control, as negative feedback travels fast over social media networks.

On the flipside, social media can greatly improve customer service if done right.  A recent example was when we were experiencing some issues with GoDaddy website hosting, a call to their online customer service department, followed by a transfer to their technical support department, followed by siting on hold for 15-minutes, produced an answer of “No, this is not possible”.  After the lengthy call I thought to myself that this should be possible and decided to use Twitter as an avenue to reach out so I messaged GoDaddy directly on Twitter and received a response within 5-minutes.  They provided instructions and answers via Twitter in less than 10-minutes and answered my initial question.  Unfortunately for GoDaddy, the answer through Twitter was “Yes, this is possible” and why I received a “No, this is not possible” answer via traditional phone support is probably another blog post.  Overall, I felt my customer service experience was greater through a social media platform compared to the phone, a definite shift in the way I will reach out to some companies moving forward.

The impact of providing customer service through online platforms such as Twitter is unmeasured.  However, looking at both examples you can see how, if done right, customer service and customer expectations can be managed efficiently and provide a more interactive experience for consumers.