I am a member of the Indian Internet Marketers Group at LinkedIn. I don’t spend a lot of time following the threads or making comments. But something tweaked my interest last week and I couldn’t get the subject off my mind. This morning, on my WebmasterRadio.fm radio show, CEO Coach, I discussed this topic with my colleague, Nina Price (NinaPrice.com). I’d be curious to know what you’re doing as an e-commerce business owner. Email me anytime at gillian @ seomoz.org; think of it as an ad-hoc survey to see what and how we’re all doing…
The writer at IIMG posed the following question and the beginning of an answer: Should brands give tweeting customers special attention? Companies should monitor what people say about them online, but shouldn’t feel obligated to reply to each and every mention.
This is a guest post by Gillian Muessig of SEOMoz. The views and opinions expressed by this author are entirely her own and may not necessarily reflect those of Miva Merchant.
And with that, I was off and running. Here are my thoughts.
Obligation
I postulate that it’s not a matter of “FEELING obligated”. “FEELING obligated” is a description best reserved for personal relationships. Companies are corporate entities, not private citizens, friends or family. Corporate entities, while made up of individuals, require a different “road map” or set of guidelines which help employees and management understand how best to observe, catalog, analyze, and respond to the social media sounds of today, including those on twitter.
With the understanding that “obligation” has nothing to do with how a corporate entity should respond to tweeters, look instead at corporate objectives and work backwards.
A for-profit corporation’s objective is to provide financial value (profitability) for its investors, whether private or public. How those profits are achieved have to do with the ethical standards by which the corporate directors choose to operate. There are companies who make money at the expense of their customers and colleagues – price gouging, providing the lowest quality products/services possible, providing poor customer service, paying their employees and suppliers as little as possible, etc. Other companies find profitability in assisting and supporting customers, colleagues, community and industry along the way. Those who know me, know that I am a strong supporter of the second option.
Once you know what kind of a company you’d like to build, you will know how to respond to the sounds of social media. What works for your company? I can tell you what works for mine…
Community Management
At SEOMoz, we are a team of about 30 people. One person on that team has the title of “Community Development Manager”. Think about what that means – we have only 30 people to design, develop, manage and maintain the entire suite of SEOmoz search marketing tools, including the daily blog, weekly videos, annual Seminars on two continents, the monthly update of the ~50billion urls of Linkscape’s fresh web crawl, customer support, marketing, administration, and more…. and we have dedicated one of those precious people to take care of the community. That should give you an idea of how important we believe community to be.
The Community Manager tweets to our followers, listens to tweets (and more sounds across the web) from our community and beyond it (those who are not following us, but tweet, blog about, or mention SEOmoz). It is her job to respond publicly and sometimes privately, to engage, explore the good and the bad, to rectify things if we have made mistakes, to connect them with people who can assist if they are experiencing problems (not just customers – ANY person), and to make sure the sentiment is as positive as possible by doing these things.
Moreover, it is incumbent on every member of the SEOmoz team to connect with people who tweet or make any mention of SEOmoz anywhere on the web as often and as positively as possible. We all take responsibility for acknowledging and thanking those who say both good and bad things about the company. If they say something less than positive, we thank them for taking their personal time to bring things to our attention. If it’s a problem or mistake we can fix, we make things right. We explain when there is confusion. If something is bugging a tweeter or blogger, but there’s nothing we can do to change our processes, we explain why we do what we do and try to find common ground or at least understanding. You’d be amazed at how forgiving people will be if you simply explain what predicament leads you to do a piece of your business in a certain way that may have rubbed them wrong. We do not ignore anyone. If they something good, we acknowledge their kind words publicly and try to find something good to say about the work they are doing as well.
And therein lies my short answer – the OBLIGATION of any company that wishes to earn or remain profitable now and in the future, is to listen, and them implement that old-school customer service concept: the E.A.R.: explore, acknowledge, and respond responsibly.
Special Attention
Special attention for tweeters or others who mention your brand? YES! YES! and again YES! Special attention does not necessarily mean a gift, a discount, or free service. It means honoring the speaker with a reasonable and respectful response. Do not treat your customers who take the time to speak to you with the arrogance of a master toward a slave or servant. Do not disregard their voices as if they were dogs; do not think there no need to respond. Think instead, how would you feel if you spoke and no one bothered to listen or respond to you? And unless you want your customers to feel like you just felt, start talking.
I firmly believe that the days of corporate arrogance are over. Companies that do not listen and respond will fall prey to the rise of companies that understand the power the Internet has provided to their customer base. This goes for private and public for-profit corporations, non-profit organizations, and governments alike. Beware: ignore the “sounds of the web” at your peril
Here’s to a great year, folks! Internet based sales are STILL rising – go get a piece of it! (and say thanks to those who spread the word about you and give you opportunities to prove you’re a really good guy/gal to do business with).
—Gillian Muessig
Co-founder, President of SEOMoz.org
Guest Contributor