The Rules of Social Engagement, Part 1 – Twitter

• Tweet

If the recent retraction of debit card fees by major banks has taught us anything, it’s that in the age of social media and internet communication, the customer is king.  Years ago, businesses used to calculate that dissatisfied customers would tell 10 others about their experience, while satisfied customers would tell only three. With the power and reach of social networks such as Twitter, that number has skyrocketed on both sides.  After these debit fees were enacted, a flurry of negative comments flooded Twitter.  The hue and cry was so loud, banks backed off and rescinded the fee.

Netflix has also recently felt the heat from a dissatisfied customer base with a 72 percent drop in subscribers after a disastrous 60 percent rate hike for ‘DVD plus streaming’ customers.  People went to Twitter in droves to complain and to pledge to drop the brand and find alternatives. To pull a stunt like this in one of the worst economies most of us have lived through was difficult to fathom. Had they thought this out, they would see that other entertainment options were waiting to pick up the pieces and are now enjoying the fallout.  Oh hey, is that a line at the Redbox?

You, yourself are a customer; to many, many companies. Think about how you think and feel in a situation where something is not to your liking, or you just had a great experience.

When was the last time you took to the internet to rave about a product or vent about one? More and more people are choosing social media communication over others to express themselves. For me, it was recently when I tried to upgrade the operating system on my phone. I kept getting cut off, and promptly went to Twitter to complain…

Me:  Got a termination on OS5 download. Who do I blame? #Brighthouse cable? #Apple? USB cord?? Of course it was 47 minutes in.

@BrightHouseCare:  Hi, is there something that I can help you with? Follow/DM if you need anything. Have a great weekend. Thanks ~Dee

Me:   Thanks BrightHouse, I’m impressed. My roommate isn’t having problems, so I think I’ve ruled you out as the issue.

@BrightHouseCare:  I understand. We’re here on Twitter for support if you need anything just let us know! Take care ~Dee

As I mentioned in my tweet, I was impressed. Why? Because even though many brands have Twitter, they don’t use it to listen to or engage with their consumers. Bright House Networks stepped up to the plate before I even finished troubleshooting.

Here’s another case in point…my best friend orders flowers from 1-800-Flowers. She was afraid they wouldn’t arrive in time…

Friend:  How is it you can order from 1800Flowers 3 days ahead then wait all day for them, but order them the day before, and they get here early?

@1800Flowers: I am very sorry, I will be happy to look into this for you. May I please have the order number and name on the order? Thanks, Misty.

Friend: Thanks Misty, [Order number and name redacted for privacy]. Scheduled for today

@1800Flowers: Thank you. The order should be delivered within the next ½ hour. They are with the driver now.

I’ve shortened this exchange for brevity. The flowers arrived on time. However, do you know what I noticed the most? The original tweet had no at symbol ( @ ) and no hashtag ( # ).  1-800 Flowers must be tracking all iterations of their name. Not easy for a company whose name may or may not have a dash.

Obviously, Bright House Networks and 1-800 Flowers are using this social media platform to better their customer service and found the key: engagement.

Too many companies are setting up their Twitter and leaving it abandoned.  They are not responding to tweets that are both positive and negative.  If you don’t have a Twitter account you are still getting praised and lambasted whether you’re at the party or not. Remember when 10 years ago you got a website because everyone said you had to? Well, now that goes for Twitter.  But the rules are a bit different for social media than they are for website ownership.  Twitter is simple; express yourself in 140 characters or less. The do’s and don’ts are a bit more complex.

Just to clarify, here are the things that followers love:

• Discounts and freebies available only to your followers (us!).
• Seeing great reviews on you before we’ve “bought you.”
• When you talk to us just to say hi, or thanks.
• Some humor interjected into your corporate chatter.
• Information we can really use.
• Initials after a tweet so we know we’re dealing with one of many Twitter administrators.
• Good News. A constant barrage of bad news gets tiring.
• Retweets of relevant and interesting articles

And the things followers hate:

• When you don’t put links to your social media on your homepage.
• Never hearing from you after we’ve proclaimed our love by following you.
• The repeat tweet. The exact same message every day – four times a day.
• Spoilers. Don’t tweet the winner of your show. We have it DVR’d. It’s 2011 for crying out loud!
• #When #you #hash #tag #every #word.
• When you don’t respond. At all. Ever. To anyone.
• Personal tweets on a work Twitter. Do not log into your work twitter and post about politics, religion, strong opinion and especially drunken tweets. This is for your personal account.
• Auto-reply messages.
• Dnt cobine ur words n leave out sum so u can fit 160 chrchters into 140 chrchters #SayWhat #URnot13.
• Checking the update to Twitter box on every social media platform.
• Too many vague questions: How do you feel? What do you think? (About what?).
• Every tweet is a link to a blog post.
• Celebs only touting their perfumes and shows and never sharing a Halloween costume or sunset picture or the garbage their dog has strewn across the kitchen (real stuff).
• A cut-off tweet that doesn’t explain a truncated link.
• Smack talk of anyone, including competitors.

By following a few rules and keeping the focus on the customer, you can avoid the type of public relations disaster some companies have faced by ignoring customer wants and needs.  So, is it necessary for every company to have a Twitter? No. But if you are in any sort of business that has computer users as a majority of your clientele, you might want to think about it.

Yes, 1-800 Flowers? I’d like to order a bouquet for my mom…