customer perceptions of your company
Social media is the tool, social experience is the output of using the tool.
Social media is starting to change the way we interact with Customers. We are seeing a shift of power from organizations to consumers. There has been a shift in the power of communicating a message. Gone are the days where you would have needed millions of dollars for advertising to get your message over now, when you experience poor service you simply get out your phone and communicate to the world!
A good example of this shift of power is Dave Carroll and his great song “United breaks guitars”. Dave’s song tells the story of Dave and his band travelling from Halifax to Nebraska, connecting through Chicago, whilst flying United Airlines. Dave checked in his Taylor guitar, (a special and very expensive guitar). Whilst on the plane, a passenger saw the ground crew at O’Hara throwing the guitar. Dave told the crew who could not care less. On arrival Dave’s worst fears were realised, his guitar was broken. A year of complaining didn’t get any results. Dave decided to take his message to the people via social media,
When we first saw it within days of its release, it had registered some 300,000 hits. By early 2010, it had reached 7,624,212 views. It has since appeared on CNN and other TV stations.
Think of the cost this must have caused United, all the meetings that must have taken place and the cost of the poor PR.
Like many organziations United were living in the old world, not the new. They did not appreciate that there has been a shift of power from organizations to Customers. If they knew this was going to attract this level of coverage, do you think they would have reacted differently?
We know people trust of consumers’ reviews of products far more than they do the manufacturers or the retailers. Over the next few years we will see more and more of these cases, eventually this will force companies to change the way they treat Customers.
Social media demands a different mind-set to engage customers effectively. Organizations need to embrace the fact that they are losing control. Transparency, honesty and speed are the name of the game.
So where are you with your organization?
In recent research we have discovered the following different types of organizations that exist and how to identify them.
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