You’re a creator. A curator. A communicator.
You’re an editor. A director. A writer.
You’re an analyst. An interpreter. An advertiser.
You’re a sun up to sun down (and then some) worker. A “not leaving till it’s done” researcher.
You’re an orchestrator . A leader. A helper.
You’re a contributor. But most importantly, a listener.
You’re a doer. An observer. A specialist.
You’re a linker. A connector. A seeker.
You’re a Community Manager
Congrats on being awesome
There’s nothing wrong with tossing some bacon, roundhouse kicks and mullets into your day. To break up my day I will, from time to time, watch clips from the Swayze classic, ‘Road House.’ In watching these clips I could not help but think “what if Patrick Swayze was a marketer? What if he had access to social media?” My dwellings on this below…
1. Be Nice
You are going to encounter A LOT of personalities you don’t like. Big ideas will float around that are terrible. And you will butt heads with people who work close to you. When these times arise, be nice. When there are too many cooks in the kitchen, be nice. When a campaign gets a green light that you don’t like, be nice. Now, I’m not saying have no opinion and bottle everything up. But handle things that are out of your control with the attitude of being nice.
2. When Someone Calls You A Name, Be Nice
As Community Managers we all know there’s going to be people out there who bash your brand – some brands more regularly than others. It happens. Deal with it with transparency. When tackling negative feedback from people, it is essential in my opinion to be nice. Having been a disgruntled customer before (who hasn’t?), I have been completely won over by kindness and brand’s willingness to help. When brands become human and are nice to their fans and bust their ass to help them, it typically results in winning that person back. If that person is not completely sold they will at least have something good to say about your customer service. Remember, wins don’t have to come from just a sale.
3. When The Time Of Being Nice Is Over, Stand Up For Yourself (Or Your Brand)
This is a VERY rare circumstance in social media. I repeat: this is a VERY rare circumstance in social media. When a brand has been nice, accommodating and given all 120% of themselves to helping a disgruntled person and that person continues to come back with bash after bash after bash about the same situation then it is time to stop being nice. THIS DOES NOT MEAN BE OUTRIGHT RUDE! But it does mean that brands, on occasion, need to stand up for themselves and their content. Defend your castle! A brand can simply say something like “Sorry, [insert name]. We have given you every possible resource at our disposal. If you continue to use graphic language or rant on our comment threads you will be reported and banned.” Don’t be afraid. Stand up for your kindness and willingness to be good at customer service. Because that’s exactly what you’re doing.
When have you had to stand up for your brand? Or continue to be nice?
Long title, huh? Well, there’s a reason I included “Social Media Customer Service” as opposed to “Customer Service” standing alone. But I’ll get to that in a bit. The holidays are a time of family, friends, yada yada yada, but what happens when those shoes don’t come on time? Or that playhouse that will take you a week to build incorrectly gets double charged on your account? How do these holiday debacles genuinely get resolved…and with a smile on the customer’s face? It’s hard, but it can be done.
So I had sidelined my Christmas shopping day after day after day..whoops. Who doesn’t, right? I knew what I was ordering though (baby converse shoes for my niece) and knew I would be going straight to Zappos to knock it out in about five minutes. I went to the Zappos link my sister had given me and nothing. Got an always friendly “Internal Error” message. So I immediately went to the Zappos brand page and said “I need help!” Below is the customer service magic that ensued…
My initial cry for help
Their response, plus another community member chiming in with some holiday cheer
Them actually helping me with real info, not company lines
My mind blown + them being awesome + another question from me
Boom, them hitting back with more real help – please note that this is not fake help
Holiday high-fives all around
The next time you have a customer problem with a brand, go to them and let them know. Don’t bitch repetitively because nothing gets accomplished with that mindset on either end. Trust me, not all Community Managers respond to you dropping a hundred F-bombs. Come as a customer who is on an honest search for a solution. If you take this attitude, then a solution can typically be reached. Not always, but most of the time.
And the reason I chose “Social Media Customer Service” over just “Customer Service” is because this is the number one line of brand communication today. It’s not hard, when you call a customer service line you are only one on one. But when you take to the social airwaves (in a respectful and mature manner), your inquiry is seen my hundreds of thousands – it’s hard to throw company lines at that.
Have you had any social media customer service blunders recently? If so, how did they turn out?
