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This morning my husband drove 6 miles to the pool and 6 miles back minus his swim — the pool had been closed for 24 hours for cleaning following an accident. Which begs this customer service question: why were 10 people standing outside the pool at 7 AM trying to get in, when they could’ve been updated via Twitter the night before that the pool was going to be closed for the day?

A simple message from a dedicated Twitter account controlled by staff at the pool would have meant that any followers were saved the time and expense of a wasted journey so early in the morning.

Here are the typical objections a company may have to getting started with this channel. If your company isn’t already using this channel, some of these may sound familiar:

“Our customers don’t use Twitter”

Is that so? Have you asked them? What method, if any, do you currently use to communicate with your customers? Put up a sign in reception, mention it when you’re on the phone to them, drop them an e-mail — use whatever methods you already have to see if they’d be open to this new channel.

“We don’t have a social media policy”

Draft one. It will take you 15 minutes. Keep it simple. The policy should be founded on common sense, trust of your own staff, and personal accountability on behalf of your users.

“We can’t be on Twitter all hours of the day checking it for messages”

Twitter will send you an e-mail if somebody mentions you on Twitter or sends you a private direct message. You do use e-mail, don’t you? Twitter works alongside it beautifully. Sending a message to followers of your Twitter ID takes just a minute to send.

“I think our marketing people already use Twitter”

That might be true. But the core value of Twitter, especially if you are a business-to-consumer organisation, is customer service, not horn-tooting. Your marketing department can have its Twitter account and you can have yours.

If you could make your customers happy, help them avoid inconvenience, solve their problem (especially if it’s a problem to do with your product or service), wouldn’t you do it? And wouldn’t your boss love to hear about it? Many companies approach Twitter as a marketing channel to communicate their press release or media coverage. If you’re one of those companies, look yourself in the mirror. Shouldn’t you also be using this channel to listen and help your customers?

Here’s an example of the online fashion retailer ASOS using Twitter to talk to its customers in real time.

“I am not sure how to get started”

ENNclick helps companies do social media. But you don’t really need our help to do the very basics — register your Twitter identity and ask your customers if they are interested in this channel. If you need training, a branded graphic for your Twitter page, or more insight into Twitter best practice, contact me. But there’s much you can do on your own. Why not get started today?

Q. What’s the best customer service you’ve ever received via Twitter? How did that make you feel about that company?

Sheila
@sheilaenn

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