How many times have you read some variation of the phrase “Social Media Revolution” thrown around the ether of the larger internet community?
If you are involved in marketing or advertising, you probably come across that phrase quite often. Every brand and business, from tiny local shops to huge e-commerce giants, has eagerly joined the social media scene with a passion rarely seen in other advertising forms — and for good reason, it’s an excellent way to engage with your customers.
It is, indeed, a hallmark of this so called “revolution” that customers will willingly take to social media to voice their concerns with a company’s service, and they also expect a swift reply.
The emerging trend in business that virtually all brands have been adopting for years emphasizes customer service through social media. This format of online customer care serves as a form of “instant gratification” for many consumers, and woe is the big business that flat out refuses to address their Twitter mentions.
The problem still exists though, that even after close to a decade of being front and center in the public consciousness, social media as a valid form of customer support is still very much in its infancy. It fundamentally lacks the human interaction aspect that customers crave for a satisfactory resolution to their concerns with a business or product. There is a fun little experiment you can do yourself to test out this hypothesis: Send a tweet with a genuine concern to an airline or large restaurant franchise. Almost without exception, the social media manager behind the brand will direct you to a contact form on a website or tweet you a phone number where you can talk to a real live person. And truth be told they are doing the right thing… putting you in touch with a real customer service representative is about as “human” as social media can get, given the current technology.
Indeed we are in the midst of an interesting “shift” in the way businesses handle their customers more vociferous concerns… but quite frankly, the “revolution” has yet to be televised.
Social Customer Service presented by Five9