Twitter has already skyrocketed out of the domain of techies and early adopters and has firmly become mainstream. Countless brands have taken advantage of the microblogging service's unique attributes to communicate directly with their customers.
Twitter is chockablock with marketing opportunities for brands large and small -- it's easy to promote, to market, and to get an immediate pulse of what's hot right now. But at this point, every marketer worth their salt should know that Twitter isn't about pushing a product -- it's about two-way conversations, and it's this attribute that makes the microblogging service a perfect customer service tool.
Consumers, be they loyal supports of your brand, or detractors who feel they've been done wrong, are offering testimonials on Twitter on a daily basis; 140-character screeds or questions, presenting conundrums that can often be easily solved. A well-monitored and maintained Twitter presence can give your brand consumer clout, sway the detractors, and easily prove that you care about your customers.
Brands like Comcast and Sprint are using Twitter to simultaneously improve their customer satisfaction while earning the accolades of their peers. Here's how they're responding to customer issues, and how you can craft a strategy for an equally effective customer service presence on Twitter.
Outline your goals
Planning to use Twitter as a customer service tool is no different than using it as a marketing tool. Before diving in, you have to know exactly what it is you want to accomplish on the social network. "A lot of people don't know [what they want from Twitter]," says Denise McVey, president of the agency S3. "It's better to not be part of Twitter if you don't know what you want to do. You don't want to be on there and make a negative impression and come across as too self-serving."
Comcast, the nation's largest cable provider, employs a team of 10 tweeters to help customers with various issues and difficulties, but it didn't simply dive right in. Frank Eliason, Comcast's director of digital care, monitored the Comcast-related conversations on Twitter for two months before launching the company's main account, @comcastcares in April 2008.
The strategy paid off greatly. Comcast's name is synonymous with customer service on Twitter, and the company's customer-satisfaction ratings have grown greatly, thanks in large part to its Twitter presence. Between the 10 accounts responsible for handling customer service issues, Comcast has amassed more than 26,000 followers. Those aren't necessarily Ashton Kutcher numbers, but Comcast is so prominent on Twitter that customers will often come directly to them to resolve issues large and small.
"For us, our purpose is to listen to customers and help where we can," says Comcast's director of digital care, Frank Eliason. "Meet the customers where they already are, and try to stick to your goals. I don't do marketing pitches too often."
The Comcast team will monitor conversations and chime in to help those with problems, then follow through until the problems are resolved. Sometimes it's as easy as telling a customer to restart their wireless router, and other times it requires sending a technician to the customer's home.
With a wireless provider like Sprint, which has 48 million customers, there are bound to be occasional issues. The goal of Sprint's Twitter presence is to present another medium for people with problems, be they questions about phones, service, coverage in their area, plans, and policies.
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