Traveling and Customer Service

This past weekend I traveled to Cary, North Carolina with a friend.  Southern hospitality sticks in my mind from past trips below the Mason-Dixon line.  People hold the door open, say "hello" to strangers, and take life at a slower pace than in the Northeast.

In some cases customer service translates over to national travel chains - in others, it appears that it does not.  

Take our airline, for example.  I didn't even realize my cell phone was missing when my friend received a call - from "me" - on her own phone.  Apparently, I'd left the phone on the plane, and airline representatives called the last person I'd called to ask where I might be.  They left the phone at the baggage claim and I easily retrieved it.  The people at the counter were friendly and easy to deal with.

Our car rental has not been as easy.  Sure, the guy at the counter was friendly when he signed out our car.  He even put our bags into the trunk (more on that later) for us.  But the good service stopped at that point.

That evening the automatic headlights failed to turn off.  Luckily we didn't wind up with a dead battery.  It appears to be an issue with the car because sometimes they turn off and other times the door needs to be opened and closed a few times in order for them to shut off.

The following morning I dropped my friend off at the clinic we'd traveled south for her to attend.  I was on my way back to the hotel to hit the gym and do some work to make up for the time I was missing at home.  Just as I was about to enter the highway I noticed that the low air pressure indicator came on for the tires.  Fortunately, there was a gas station up the street - a better alternative than waiting hours for AAA!  I got some change for the machine and began examining the air pressure in the tires.

Tire #1 - 20 PSI.  Filled 'er up.  Tire #2 held 40 PSI, #3 50 PSI, and #4 an astonishing 60 PSI.  The sticker inside the door said each tire should be at 32 PSI.  It is of my opinion that the driver is ultimately responsible - but doesn't it seem like the rental car agency should send the car out of the lot with the tires appropriately inflated, especially since the driver isn't provided with a tire pressure gauge?  I certainly don't travel with one, although I do carry one in my personal vehicle, as well as a travel air compressor.  It makes one wonder what else could be wrong with the vehicle...

I tried to call the rental agency but there was no answer at 8:00 a.m. despite claims of opening at 5:00.  Later in the day someone told us our trunk appeared to be open.  It doesn't seem to latch securely - there is some scuffing and denting on it, too.  The car has about 17,000 miles on the odometer.

What's next?  Sure, I could take the Kevin Smith route and complain via Twitter.  I'm going to wait and see what they have to say when I drop off the vehicle.  Then I'll decide if other steps are necessary.


Update:


When I dropped off the rental car, the agent asked how everything went.  I explained the three major issues - the worst obviously being the tire inflation.  He said sometimes gauges don't work that well.  I said I that know how to read a tire gauge and that I had corrected the air pressure in the tires.  After some consideration and examination of the car, he decided to refund $10 of my four-day rental fee.

My Foursquare Experiment

Over the past few weeks I've been conducting a Foursquare experiment.  I have no friends on this social networking site.  Does that defeat the purpose?  Absolutely.  But I wanted to test the waters without making a fool of myself or over-sharing things that I don't want others to know - before I knew they shouldn't know them!

Here's what I've done so far:

1. Signed up for the site.
2. Made all of my information private.
3. Checked into various locations, including during my recent vacation.
4. Added a new place!
5. Became the mayor of said place.

So far, it seems to be going okay.  Nine times out of 10 I forget to check in, despite the fact that my phone has a good Foursquare app.  Without any friends, there doesn't seem to be much point to my checking in, although I do use it to track the distances of my bike rides.  (I'm sure there are dedicated exercise apps I could use instead.)

Will Foursquare be around for the long-term?  I'm not sure.  It seems like they need to add reviews in addition to the Tips section.  That would make me more likely to visit a particular place.  Also, lots of locations are missing or don't show up in search.  Perhaps this is because there aren't a lot of Foursquare users in my area just yet.

I've also read about check in fatigue.  There are apps to check you into your various location tools.  But what about the act of checking in itself?  I have a feeling it won't be long before people tire of this itself.  Obviously, phones will be able to check us in automatically someday - but this could be seen as an invasion of privacy that will freak out most, if not many, people.

I guess I'll keep playing with this tool and see where it goes from here!  But you won't be seeing my Foursquare updates on Twitter any time soon - unless they're to let you know that I passed a new biking milestone, like the 10 miles I hit on Saturday.  :)

I Didn't Know There Was an App for THAT!

Back in January I upgraded to my first smartphone - an HTC Eris by Android.  Yes, those Droid commercials with the little green robots are cute, but not the only reason I chose the phone.  An iPhone was my first choice (despite its flaws); the phone isn't yet supported by Verizon.  The Droid has similar functionality - with the bonuses of syncing all of my Google accounts and a lower price tag.

The Droid allows me to update all of my social media accounts on the go via "apps", or applications.  I can maintain my Twitter and Facebook accounts, as well as check my Gmail and send pictures.  These are just the basics.  What are apps are out there?

How to Find Apps - Straight From the Source

Much like iPod/iPhone users download songs, movies, games, and other applications from iTunes, Droid users use the Android Market.  This app store (which contains plenty of free apps) is accessible from mobile phones.  Recently, Google created an online version of the Android Market, "“a showcase for some of the featured and top ranked applications and games available" (O'Dell).

There are three tabs on the Android - Market site; each displays 40 apps.  The tabs display "Featured", "Top Free," and "Top Paid" apps.  I use a moderate amount of apps on my phone (20-30) and thought I had the most useful ones installed.  Perhaps this is because I had spent time searching for what I thought I needed - and never took the time to browse.

Here are a few of the apps listed on the Android - Market site that are useful for social media:

• Congress - uses your location to provide you with a way to contact your local officials and view bills that were recently voted on
• Pocket Agent - contact your State Farm agent, submit a claim, and view all account info
• Yelp - find and review restaurants and other establishments
• Grocery iQ- create a grocery list by scanning item barcodes; share lists with other users
• WordPress - blogging interface

Other Ways to Find Apps

Mashable mentioned six other ways to find Android apps.  Some sites list all available apps; others have reviews and the latest offerings.


So get out there and look for apps - there are many ways to stay connected on the go.  Apps like Yelp and WordPress can assist you with maintaining your corporate image; others are great for personal productivity.


Resources:

Android - Market. Android, 2010. Web. 6 June 2010. . 

O'Dell, Jolie. "7 Ways to Find Amazing New Android Apps." Mashable. N.p., 5 June 2010. Web. 6 June 2010. .

My Company is Social, But...

Way back in my first post about Joel Postman's book, SocialCorp:  Social Media Goes Corporate, I wrote out what I hoped to learn from reading it.  (Obviously, I've also picked up some tips in our weekly class lectures, by working on a group project for Gilda's Club, and from guest speaker Amy Mengel.)

So, how'd I do?

1. A stronger understanding of the best (and worst) ways organizations can use social media effectively.
   Over the past six weeks I've learned that you can put it out there, but it's got to be measured, especially if you want it to be an accepted practice in your organization.  (I think I already knew this because a component of my "real" job is metrics, metrics, metrics.)  Measurement shouldn't only be based on the number of Twitter followers; it also depends on how your intended message is being received. 
   If you're on Twitter for customer service, you need to be professional and have a standard plan.  In fact, you need to have a solid social media identity for your corporation.  You may have to stake a claim on accounts across the various sites so that others don't "brandjack" them (Postman 21).
   
   
2. Ideas for implementing social media and other online tools in my employer's online forum and blogging site.
   This goal was intended to help me work on my master's capstone.  I certainly took away quite a few things in the past six weeks that will help me on my capstone journey.  For example, most sites moderate comments in some way.  (Next step - figuring out how to get the users to accept that!) 
   Perhaps in the future we could use Twitter to help respond to user issues in real time.  (Right now I hope we don't have enough user support problems to make this necessary.)  I also dipped my toes into the legal pool - a place I'm going to have to continue my research in order to create a thorough plan.

After all this, what have I learned about the "social quality" of my company?  Overall, I think the organization has some learning, experimenting, and growing to do.  The subset I work with (the forum and blogging community) is doing pretty well.  Hopefully my capstone project's proposal to the organization will help clean up some of the communication issues between our users and administration!

I'm satisfied with my progress so far.  But social media is always changing and growing.  The quote "never stop learning" truly applies to this topic!


Resources:

Postman, Joel. SocialCorp: Social Media Goes Corporate. Berkeley, CA: New Riders, 2009. Print.

Skype with Thomas Knoll from Zappos.com

It's no secret that I love heart(!) shoes.  So, when my graduate class had the opportunity to Skype with Thomas Knoll, Community Director at Zappos.com, I was pretty excited.

Thomas gave us a quick rundown (I still can't use that word without thinking of a certain episode from The Office) of Zappos' social media efforts:

1. The telephone - more on that a little later
2. Shoe Digest email with Q&A answered by customers
3. Blog - by CEO Tony Hsieh
4. Lifestyle sites on Zappos.com focusing on shopper segments
5. Twitter - most of the employees tweet

Despite being a company that operates by selling shoes and apparel via an online search, Thomas stressed that customer service is extremely important to Zappos and said that the telephone is its greatest tool. 

Really?  The phone?  I guess it's not all that surprising.  When you have a complaint about something, what's the fastest way to get to a person?  If you send an email, it goes into a void and you usually receive an automated response or hear nothing for days (if ever).  Online chats have long wait times and mixed success.  The phone, despite its wait times, is usually a guaranteed way to get to a human being of some type.  Interaction is key.

Zappos is also great because its humans are in America; the company's employees are split between its headquarters near Las Vegas, NV and its distribution center near Shepardsville, KY. 

Measuring Social Media

Thomas spent a great deal of time answering our questions.  Quite a few of them focused on the elusive "measurement" topic.  Interestingly, Zappos is more interested in making its customers say "Wow!" than reaching certain numeric social media or other goals.  The company doesn't necessarily convert social media to numbers or believe in adding in extra fees to bump up its revenue.

Employee Involvement = Customer Involvement

During our Skype session, Thomas had to dodge some darts (literally - his co-workers were shooting nerf darts as he chatted with us) to give us a tour of the building.  It's a cool place with group workstations that adjust for sitting and standing configurations.  Everyone seemed to be working together in small groups. 

Zappos' in-house culture translates to its customers who can answer questions for one another.  When asked how the company monitors customer-to-customer relations, Thomas made some great points:

• Negative comments are great because they give you somewhere to go.
• It's too easy to drown out a community by being overbearing.  
• Instead of shutting out the wrong information, join in and participate.
• You can't create community - it just happens.

These are some great points for me to take away as I work on my capstone project - creating a ruleset for an online community and moderating it!

Don't Let Social Media Send You to the Slammer

It's so easy to break offline laws online... just think about these scenarios:

• How many Facebook accounts does each celebrity have?  Lindsay Lohan returns 454 results.  Is this identity theft?  (I once heard a story about a guy who created an account for a guy who was running for mayor.  He kept "poking" the candidate's opponent and invited him to political debates.)
• Remember the fake Exxon Mobil employee on Twitter?
• Potential defamation and libel cases abound on celebrity blogs and gossip sites that are similar to their magazine counterparts.  Real-time publishing may limit fact checking.
• Corporations often try to squash "anti" websites like WakeUpWalmart.com and People of Walmart.

As of yet there are no uniformed Internet cops that track down offenders' IP addresses, show up at their doorsteps, and demand such content be removed.  There is no book of Internet laws.  The keyword is "yet".  As web 2.0 becomes the norm, what's acceptable becomes more clearly defined.  Obviously, this makes things challenging - especially in an environment like the Internet where content appears to live forever.

For now, ethical companies, bloggers, and social media users rely on the SEC, FTC, and EU to provide guidance.  The SEC deals with financial rules, the FTC handles commerce, and the EU is for international trade (Postman 117). 

Marketing Pilgrim had a good blog about FTC regulations related to social media marketing.  Most notable is that you must disclose the fact that you're being paid to discuss something.  Although this sounds obvious, it's a detail that many forget to mention.  (I am not being paid to discuss this topic.  It is, however, a grad school assignment!)


Without concrete laws most of us try to rely on ethics while using social media online - but that is definitely enough material for another blog entry.  Actually, another blog could be devoted to ethics entirely!


Resources:

McCollum, Jordan. "Are You Breaking the Law with Social Media Marketing?." Marketing Pilgrim. N.p., 6 May 2009. Web. 4 June 2010. http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2009/05/are-you-breaking-the-law-with-social-media-marketing.html

Postman, Joel. SocialCorp: Social Media Goes Corporate. Berkeley, CA: New Riders, 2009. 113-132 Print.

PR = Social Media = Customer Service

It's no surprise that PR, social media, and customer service become closer every day.  (If you don't believe me, think back to Kevin Smith's public complaint to Southwest via Twitter and Twitter's subsequent public apology.)  It's a real-time way to assist the customers where they already are.  No need for them to scour a corporate website looking for an obscure "Contact us" box - wondering if and when they'll ever receive a response.

According to the PR Squared blog, this method should begin with monitoring your company's online social media presence.  Is this beginning to sound familiar yet?  I have yet to write a blog entry entirely devoted to social media performance evaluation, but I have touched on it in many of them.

After the discovery of an issue, the authors of the PR Squared blog recommend a few different approaches.  For example, all complaints should be flagged and logged.  Minor customer service issues can easily be responded to at the same social media venue they were found.  Bigger issues can be directed to the actual customer service team for follow-up.

Mashable also has a great guide for using Twitter as a customer service vehicle. It emphasizes the importance of tracking the entire conversation around a brand.  (And, as I mentioned in a previous entry, establish your corporate identity so you can be engaged in the conversation and people know you who are.)  Check out the Starbucks Twitter page for an example.

This type of evaluation can be useful for keeping an eye on future brand strategies and implementations.

Who knows, perhaps one day all of these departments will be wrapped into one. 


Resources:

2010. Generate Leads. Web. 31 May 2010. http://www.leadgenerateonline.com/generate-sales-leads-using-twitter/

Defren, Todd. "PR + Customer Service Merger Accelerating." PR Squared. N.p., 13 May 2010. Web. 31 May 2010. http://www.pr-squared.com/index.php/2010/05/pr-customer-service-merger-accelerating


Parr, Ben. "HOW TO: Use Twitter for Customer Service." Mashable. N.p., 2009. Web. 31 May 2010. http://mashable.com/2009/05/09/twitter-customer-service/

Putting it All Out There

As I hinted in my last post, I'm working on a work-related project that also ties into my master's thesis.  It has to do with social media branching off from a corporate site.  Things like comment moderation are a hot topic for me right now!

When I started reading the fourth chapter of Joel Postman's book "SocialCorp" I knew I'd learn a thing or two.  The chapter is called "Can You Control Your Brand, or Just Share It?".

Most of us want to "put it out there" (it being our brand) to gain exposure.  Of course, that comes at a cost, and online that cost can spread like wildfire - or go "viral".

For me and my projects, the two biggest things I'm concerned with are:

1. Whether or not comments should be moderated
2. Establishing corporate identity

I touched on whether comments should be moderated - that is, posted to a blog or forum without being reviewed first - in a previous blog entry.  So here we'll also take a look at  unauthorized use of a brand via social media.

Establishing a Social Media Identity

I moderate a forum and blog site.  Most of the regular users know that I'm a moderator.  There is not, however, any designation next to my user name or profile that points out my moderator status - or the fact that I work for the site's parent company.

Postman uses examples of corporations like Zappos and Dell to show how corporate employees identify themselves.  Many employees do so by appending the company name to the end of the user name (Postman 86).  There are pros and cons to this system:

• Pro - Easy to determine who is an employee (for advertising/customer service from a customer's point of view; for brand management from a corporation's point of view)
• Pro - Can aggregate employee tweets or posts to have a comprehensive feed about company happenings
• Con - May need to monitor employees closely or else train them and ask them to sign agreements for use
• Con - Customers may disregard employee material as propaganda

Unauthorized Use of a Brand in Social Media

Postman uses the example of the popular Facebook application Scrabulous.  It was a game that copied Scrabble, the popular board game, but did not have permission to use the original's content or rules.  Ultimately Scrabble forced Scrabulous to pull its application.  It lost two million potential users in the process (Postman 84).  It could have simply bought the game and changed the name, right?  Did that many people really know or care that Scrabulous was a "knock-off"?



Resources:

Pierson, Garrett. Social Media Marketing Breaks Barriers in Conversations. 2008. Social Media Vision. Web. 31 May 2010. http://www.socialmediavision.com/social-media-marketing-breaks-barriers-in-conversations/ (image)

Postman, Joel. SocialCorp: Social Media Goes Corporate. Berkeley, CA: New Riders, 2009. 77-90. Print.  

Creating a Social Media Plan

I'm currently trying to create two social media laundry lists:

1. To analyze a corporation's use of social media to promote itself (for a school project)
2. To analyze the way users are permitted to interact within social media on a corporate site (for a work project and in the end, my master's capstone)

Chris Brogan blogged about "An Author's Plan for Social Media Efforts".  Its original intent was for an author promoting a book; however, it's quite the inclusive list and a good start.

Brogan's list includes the basics at the top - a website and blog that can probably be integrated with one another.  He also talks about a newsletter.

Next up is trackability.  (Is that a word?)  It's important to know where your audience comes from.  The measures and metrics chapter of Joel Postman's "SocialCorp" (which I am pages away from completing!) is titled "Can You Count Everything That Counts".  Postman explains that tools like Google Analytics and microsites can be used to measure effectiveness.  Brogan suggests using URL shorteners (like TinyURL) that can tell you where every visitor came from.  Another measurement tool is Google Alerts - it lets you know when keywords of your choice are mentioned online. 

Joining Facebook and Twitter are no-brainers.  The key here is to join in the conversation and correct any mis-information.  Find out why people may be against your product or service and put in a good word without sounding like an advertisement.  Respond to comments on your blog

This is just a sampling of the tips - there are many more.  The main point is that you have to do a lot of things to be effective.  Think about to your college days.  I finally learned, around my Junior year, that if I read the book AND went to class AND did the work, I could easily get an A.  Social media works the same way.


Resources:

Brogan, Chris. "An Author's Plan for Social Media Efforts." www.chrisbrogan.com. N.p., 29 May 2010. Web. 31 May 2010. http://www.chrisbrogan.com/author-social-media/.

Pargeter, Kirsty. Social Media ROI. 2009. Web. 31 May 2010. http://www.masternewmedia.org/social-media-roi-how-to-calculate-social-media-marketing-return-on-investment/ (image)

Postman, Joel. SocialCorp: Social Media Goes Corporate. Berkeley, CA: New Riders, 2009. 133-153. Print.

Do You Have a Tweet Tooth?

While Twitter is heavily integrated into the social media strategies of some organizations it is uncharted territory for others.  A cross between a real-time chat room, Facebook status updates, and a miniature blog, Twitter can be an effective tool to get PR points across and even handle customer service issues.

What is Twitter?

Many people have heard the terms "Twitter" and "tweet" because they have become everyday terminology.  Some people have not yet viewed or participated in this form of social media.  Twitter is a micro-blogging tool (Postman 52) that allows users to post information 140 characters at a time.  These posts are called "tweets".

The people who subscribe to read an individual or organization's tweets are called "followers".  The goal is to have a network of followers who in turn might "re-tweet" your tweets to his or her network of followers.  This distributes the message.

Twitter's Uses - The Good and The Bad

Individuals often use Twitter to their friends know what's going on in their lives.  As with any social networking tool, there has to be some level of restraint, because the majority of people probably don't want or need to know minute details like how often you brush your teeth or what you eat for every meal - unless, of course, that's what you tweet about for a specific audience!

A good use of a corporate Twitter account is as a brand ambassador as Joel Postman explains in his book SocialCorp: Social Media Goes Corporate (55).  Tweets can be sent out to alert followers to press releases, marketing campaigns, new blog entries, website updates, and more. (More could include real-time customer service if your organization has the resources to actively track what others are saying about your company.)

It's important to know that anyone can register any Twitter user name.  Therefore, an organization should grab its own name before someone else does, even it if doesn't intend to tweet right away.

Is Twitter an Effective PR Tool?

I personally follow a few companies on Twitter; however, they don't always have too much to say about company strategy.  (I'll be honest - I mostly tweet about my other blog, and look for future animal science topics to write about.  Checking in with my favorite celebrities is a good time-waster too!)

There are some tools that can be used to measure the reach of Twitter because just because an organization has a large number of followers it doesn't mean the message is being heard.  (And - you have to post regular tweets in the first place to get the message out there!)

• Twinfluence measures reach, velocity, and social capital.
• Twittorati, like blog tracker Technorati, tracks the tweets from bloggers with the highest "authority".
• TwitterSheep* compares keywords to help compare you and your competition.

* It also has some pretty cute sheep cartoons.

My biggest takeaway from this part of the course reading is that anyone can Tweet about anything (for better or for worse) but it's important to track and react.

 
Resources:

Gift Leader. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 May 2010. http://www.gift-leader.com/pro/big/ruler/rr1013005.jpg (ruler graphic)

Lee, Chris. "Kevin Smith's Southwest Airlines incident sets Web all a-Twitter." Los Angeles Times 16 Feb. 2010. Web. 20 May 2010. http://articles.latimes.com/2010/feb/16/entertainment/la-et-kevin-smith16-2010feb16

Postman, Joel. SocialCorp: Social Media Goes Corporate. Berkeley, CA: New Riders, 2009. 31-75. Print.


Twitter. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 May 2010. http://www.twitter.com/ (logo)