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Social Media and Business: Customer Service In The Online World

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By Guest Blogger Allison King:

In the summer of 2011, I became a social media intern for a local retailer I worked at called Aggieland Outfitters. The position opened up after our Facebook fanbase jumped from a couple hundred people to 20,000 due to an online competition. Customer service is the pride of our stores, and the company wanted to make sure we were successfully taking care of our new online fans.  My duties included checking the Facebook page regularly, as well as finding interesting content to share with our fans. I must admit, when I first signed on, I thought I had hit the jackpot of summer jobs. I (along with my friends and family) could not believe I would be getting paid to sit around, browse online, and monitor a Facebook page. However, I quickly learned there was much more to successfully maintaining a social media presence. Here are some tips that I learned and wish I had known sooner to optimize customer service.

Social media is the frontline of customer service. We were able to cater to customers and develop a rapport before they even set foot in the store. Having consistent interactions with our fans gave us credibility and reliability, which eventually turned fans into customers.

Entertain them, and they will come. We made sure to limit our posts about merchandise because we did not want to swamp them with advertisements. Many times, that frustrates fans that believe companies are only out for their money. Instead, we worked very hard to provide entertaining content such as videos we shot or A&M related articles. Once they started to tune into our page out of their own will they were more willing to buy our products.

Be quick. Being the first to post about current events or breaking news is crucial. After the story has had time for others to see, a post you think is really interesting is now old news. It is important to be the first to send it out to fans for them to pass around with you as the original source. Once you’ve missed it, the moment has passed.

Include your fans. We often asked fans for their opinion on products or let them vote on certain designs. We also hosted a variety of events where we photographed and made videos of everyone who came. This brought back a lot of fans to the page so they could tag themselves in the photos or share a video they “starred” in with their friends. This assured fans that we truly we truly valued and were interested in them.

My time as a social media intern showed me the importance of using the online world to generate new customers. Our sales improved along with our social media presence. Though the sales were certainly important, our greatest success was learning how to utilize our customer service skills we valued so much from a new perspective. Using social media today in businesses can be a great tool for satisfying customers, and I hope you can take these tips to apply to your own social media outlets. Good luck!

Connect with Allison:
Email: amichellek@gmail.com
Facebook:http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/allison.king.31
Twitter: https://twitter.com/a_king2013
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/amichellek/

Want to be a Guest Blogger? Submit your entry to katierose@anchormd.com.

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Case Study: Dallas TNT

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The Dallas remake on TNT wrapped a strong first season earlier this month. Let’s take a look at their innovative social media campaign:

Facebook Voice
Many television shows have standard Facebook pages through which they share actors news, quotes from the show, promo videos, et cetera. Dallas TNT has taken their Facebook page up a notch through the use of JR Ewing’s voice. Every Facebook post is written as though JR himself is posting, the wording remarkably in stride with his character’s distinct way of speaking. This gives the Facebook page a personal feel and better connects Facebook users to the show when it’s not on the air.

Facebook Timeline
We applaud Dallas TNT’s use of Facebook timeline. Few brand pages have really warmed up to the actual Timeline part of Timeline, but Dallas has added events from 1978 to the present, including marriages, divorces, births, and deaths. This helps play up the JR voice, as the Timeline reads like his own scrapbook. Each life event includes a photo and is written in the first person as the news relates to JR.

@Dallas_TNT Tweets
Dallas TNT encourages fans to tweet during the show using the hashtag #DallasTNT. Dallas often retweets their actors and fans, providing a constant stream of content. They also use their Twitter to promote their Rise to Power game and their characters’ Twitter handles.

Character Twitter Handles
Most notably, Dallas has created verified Twitter accounts for their characters to tweet in first person. Twitter handles include:

@RealJREwing
@TheOneJohnRoss
@TheChrisEwing
@TheBobbyEwing
@RealSueEllen
@TheAnnEwing
@TheElenaRamos
@RebeccaSutter

These accounts have between 5,000-18,000 followers each. The characters even tweet with each other in real-time during the show, occasionally arguing with one another and creating their own hashtags. Each Twitter page is impressively written in the appropriate voice for each character.

Rise to Power Interactive Game
This game is housed on the Dallas TNT website where fans declare their allegiance to characters each week. The game gives fans the opportunity to win prizes through Game Entries, which are obtained through tasks such as tweeting the character handles, posting about Dallas on Facebook, and checking in on Get Glue. This is a clever way for TNT to boost their social media presence and reward their fans for essentially advertising for them. After all, there’s no better way to reach a new audience than to have your existing audience voluntarily sing your praises.

We anxiously await what social media campaign is in the works for season two.

@krwatson

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PR/Social Media Internship: What I Learned

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“Love what you do and you will not work a day in your life,” is something I have heard for as long as I can remember, but being told something is much different than actually experiencing it for yourself. As my last week as an intern for Anchor comes to an end, I find myself thinking back to three months ago when I first started this amazing internship. This opportunity has provided me not only with knowledge and experience and relationships that I value, but also has shown me what passion and love for a job actually feels like.

From attending PR events and news segments with shows such as GMT and CW’s Eye Opener, to writing press releases and helping social media campaigns flourish, I have had the opportunity to learn what PR in the real world is all about, not just what a text book or professor says about public relations. I have learned that the key to any PR, marketing, or advertising strategy is to know your audience and how to engage with said audience. I have learned that in order to be successful in this profession you must build personal, mutually beneficial relationships and be the type of person that when people think of you they say, “I can count on [her or him] to be there when I need them.” My boss’s actions showed me how important these qualities are and she receives many opportunities because of her dedication to be readily available, flexible and willing to find other help if she was not able.

I enjoyed coming into work every day knowing that I was going to be greeted by cheerful good mornings, energetic music, people who love working as much as they love laughing, a dog who would do just about anything for a belly rub, and of course the guarantee that if I sneezed, I would receive a thoughtful “bless you!” I was always excited to be at work and was eager to know what the next day had in store for me, what I would learn and get to experience next. I know I am lucky for that. What I take away from my Summer at Anchor is 100% more valuable and relevant than any textbook could teach me.

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Pinterest: Not Just a Hobby

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For those of you who have not caught on, Pinterest is a platform through which people can share images and visual content by pinning them to a board that others can then look at and share on their page by ‘repinning’. When my boss first told me that I would be pinning things for our clients, I was a bit shocked and even had to ask her how to use it. Although most people would assume that as a 21-year-old female I would be an expert at Pinterest, I had never used it. The truth is that, like a lot of companies and businesses, I was stuck in my old ways of Facebook and Twitter.

For the past year, I have stereotyped Pinterest as a typical girly pastime, but now that I have had the chance to use it and see what it can do, I think it is necessary for any visual company to have their own account. If a business can not only interact with their clients in a fun and entertaining way and represent their brand uniquely, why not embrace it?

Just like any social media outlet, there is strategy behind what is pinned for a business. Here are some of the tips and tricks that I have figured out:

  • Know what your target audience is pinning and what they are interested in
  • Always source to give photo credit
  • Pin regularly
  • Use detailed descriptions on your images with key words
  • Comment on and like other pins
  • Remember you can create “fresh” content with pictures of your own
  • Ask followers to pin with you on your website and other social media sites too
  • Generate awareness
  • Research what other companies in your field are pinning
  • Include links on pins that lead back to a landing page or your home page

Do you follow any of your favorite businesses on Pinterest? Do you enjoy their pins or not?

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PR from an Intern’s Eyes

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After wrapping up my second week as a PR and Social Media intern for Anchor, I’ve realized something: most people don’t actually know what PR really is.  There are all different perceptions of the world of public relations, ranging from the glamorous life of Samantha Jones on Sex and the City to the basics that they teach us in the classroom.  Coming into my internship, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect.

I knew I would be assisting with social media and would have the opportunity to attend and assist with other “PR events” that came up, but I honestly did not fully know what that would entail.  I’m sure every future PR intern dreams about living life like Samantha Jones – power lunches, schmoozing with the wealthy and powerful, and attending fabulous parties and events.  This, however, doesn’t seem much like the life of any intern I know.  On the other hand, judging by what I had learned in my marketing and communications classes, my internship would involve writing lots of press releases to a mass audience and making coffee runs.

In these short weeks, I’ve learned a lot.  My job and the world of PR entail a little bit of both of these concepts, but also so much more.  In class, social media is kind of a side note; no one really teaches us how important it is and how to use it effectively.  At Anchor, I have learned that it relates to almost every aspect of PR and marketing.  On top of the importance of social media, I’ve learned the number one rule of public relations: know your audience.  This comes from knowing your brand and how you want the public to perceive it, knowing who would most benefit from your brand, and how to attract them to the brand.  This takes so much more than mass marketing through press releases and self-promoting Facebook and Twitter blasts.  It takes careful research, planning, and most importantly, building personal relationships, which is more than can ever be learned in a classroom or from a TV show.

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A Day in the Life of an Intern

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When I tell people that I am a PR & Social Media intern for Anchor Marketing and Design, I seem to get a few blank stares. What exactly does a social media intern do? Well I’m not sure if this is how it is for everyone, but a day in the life of an intern at Anchor is, let’s say… unique.

In school (I’m a senior in college) we are taught how important social media is for companies, but I never realized how much work and time it took to interact on these sites in a valuable way. Unlike your own personal page where you can post whatever you want, whenever you want, a company’s page has to produce relevant, interesting information in a timely manner without having too much or too little presence. We are also taught that the majority of public relations is writing press releases, but the real key to PR is building and maintaining mutually beneficial relationships.

At Anchor, I get to explore and learn the best ways to execute social media and public relations strategies in a laid back, entertaining environment. I help come up with different ways to connect with our clients’ audiences via social media and research content I think would be appropriate for our clients to post via Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. I do all this while I listen to music, play with our office dog Gabby (who loves a good belly rub) and watch my bosses throw it down in a fun game of ping-pong. I receive play-by-plays of important luncheons and dinners while eating a scrumptious cupcake with my boss, attend events that are hosted for or by our clients and get to go on set for news segments!

A lot of internships consist of coffee runs and making copies, but not at Anchor. I am glad I get to learn how to do these beneficial and critical tasks all while enjoying myself and the people I work with.

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Separate But Equal Social Media

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Separate but equal social media

How often have you seen “http://on.fb.me/xyz” on a Tweet? Ever recall seeing a hashtag on a Facebook status? What about an @ symbol followed by a Twitter handle in your newsfeed? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you’ve experienced a trend born out of social media software that allows users to simultaneously post the same post on multiple platforms. Convenient? Yes. But that doesn’t mean it’s a good idea.

It’s smart to encourage YouTube subscribers to follow you on Twitter and to suggest your LinkedIn page to your Facebook fans, but avoid using social media software to schedule one post that will appear on all of your pages. Take the time to compose a similar but appropriate posts tailored for each social media platform. For example:

Twitter: Happy National #Tourism Week, @FortWorth! Retweet if you love this city. #FortWorth.
Facebook: Happy National Tourism Week, <link to page>Fort Worth! “Like” this status if you love this city.
Google+: Happy National Tourism Week, +Fort Worth! +1 this post if you love this city. LinkedIn: Happy National Tourism Week to the city of Fort Worth. We are proud to work in this city.

Linking accounts admittedly saves time, but is the time saved worth ignoring the social etiquette of the individual platforms? Repeat after me: Treat each social media platform as its own entity.  It’s disruptive to force Twitter followers to go to your Facebook page to finish reading a tweet. Imagine if you were on the phone with a friend and in the middle of a great story, they told you, “Check your texts for the ending,” and then hung up. Would you be happy with your friend?

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Social Media: A Conversation

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“A conversation” truly is the best way to describe social media. Josh Kilmer-Purcell hit the nail on the head when he said that social media has gone from a broadcast model to a conversation model in the March episode of Anchor Chat. “It’s not a broadcast medium. It so damages your brand to not answer every question on your Facebook page,” explained Josh. 

Social Media: A Conversation

Josh Kilmer-Purcell discussing social media on Anchor Chat

So many companies and brands want to use their social media platforms only to crank out press releases, coupons, and other promotions. These things can appear on social media but shouldn’t be the only thing pages post. After all, no one likes That Friend who only talks about himself! Engaging your target market with questions and sharing industry news with them are two simple ways to position your brand as both an expert in your respective industry and a concerned listener.

I cannot stress this enough: Do not delete negative posts. Josh has it right: it damages your brand to delete those concerns. Negative comments are opportunities for your brand to demonstrate exemplary customer service. Let those voices be heard. Answer them. Have a conversation with them. You’ll be glad you did in the long run.

At a Social Media Club Fort Worth seminar in Summer 2011, Social Media Delivered CEO Eye Mayer Orsburn told the crowd that brands should only talk about themselves 20% of the time. The other 80% of posts should be engaging and dynamic content relevant to your brand. Telling fans to constantly “buy this” or “buy that” isn’t as powerful as providing solid content that will make fans want to buy this or buy that. The Beekman 1802 Boys, for instance, try to answer every comment on their Facebook page. When fans feel like their voices are being heard, they’re more inclined to support the Beekman brand by purchasing a product because they feel like the brand is supporting them as a customer.

Do you run a Facebook brand page? Comment below and tell us what your page is, what industry your brand is in, and how you engage your fans in conversation.

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