Customer Service

In the last few years, data has changed the landscape of the healthcare public relations (PR) industry where I work as a digital specialist. The change has been largely driven by the use of digital technologies and social media.[read more]

Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, invented his business on accessibility to their customers. Today’s customers are social customers, so rather than measuring how little time each customer service rep spends on a resolution or general communication, Zappos built a model where employees are rewarded for spending more time conversing with their customers.[read more]

Wendy Lea, CEO of Get Satisfaction

I had a chance to sit down with Wendy Lea, CEO of Get Satisfaction to discuss how some of the topics that you will see at the Social Shake-Up Conference created the need for companies like hers. The following is a transcript of our conversation.[read more]

Customer service lessons / shutterstock

From surgeons to CEOs, getting out from the exam room and being seen raises the bar of confidence with patients and customers alike. The open atmosphere gives the dentist the opportunity to see how patients are being treated and how employees are interacting.[read more]

Don’t use social media as ground zero for your defense. If people complain about you on social media, you should respond immediately in two ways: apologize and offer to make it right, as best you can.[read more]

Kevin Espinosa, Social Media Manager at Caterpillar 

I had a chance to sit down with Kevin Espinosa, Social Media Manager at Caterpillar to discuss some of the topics that you will see at the Social Shake-Up Conference. The following is a transcript of our conversation.[read more]

Social customer service is under the spotlight. Here's a look at how the UK and US retailers rated as the 'pick of the crop' look after their customers on social media.[read more]

social media customer service

Unfortunately, no matter how hard you try, you can no longer run away from social media. Don’t know how to use social media effectively for customer service? Here are 5 great examples for you to follow.[read more]

Developing a comprehensive social media presence, content marketing, and lead generation online aren’t easy. They take time, expertise, and a willingness to adopt an agile stance in a quickly-changing world. However, remember that if Hugh can manage to sell online, you can, too.[read more]

Ted Shelton

I had a chance to sit down with Ted Shelton, a Strategy Consulting Leader at PwC and author of Business Models for the Social Mobile Cloud to discuss some of the topics that you will see at the Social Shake-Up Conference where Ted will be speaking.[read more]

customer service/shutterstock

In today’s age of constant connectivity and instant solutions, customers demand to be assisted immediately at any hour. Call centers and live-chat applications can be beneficial for ensuring that your clients can always contact someone about an issue with your business, but social media may be the best asset for bolstering customer service.[read more]

Ginna Sauerwein explains how FedEx uses social media to provide excellent customer service. FedEx integrates across multiple functions to create a seamless customer service experience. They try new technology, like video chat. They turn to their influencers to communicate with their whole customer base. What ideas pioneered by FedEx might be helpful for your business?[read more]

Since Friday afternoon, I have received 108 notification emails from the social networking site for TV fans (it works by allowing users “check in” to shows they’re watching and share that information with their friends). Turns out, I’m not the only one – a quick Twitter search reveals dozens of others with the same problem. Many of them have deleted their accounts (irony: didn’t stop the notifications), and I personally have now designated all email from GetGlue as spam.[read more]

Semantic search is changing everything. From the way traditional marketing is done to the way social media connections are now forged, the web is forcing us to create more transparent, honest connections than ever before.[read more]

Eighty percent of companies plan to use social media for customer service and brands must respond quickly to customer queries on social channels. There is also an opportunity to use social customer service to increase brand loyalty.[read more]

Adam Naide, Social Media & Digital Marketing Lead at Cox Communications

I had a chance to sit down with Adam Naide, Social Media & Digital Marketing Lead at Cox Communications to discuss some of the topics that you will see at the Social Shake-Up Conference where Adam will be speaking. The following is a transcript of that conversation.[read more]

Venn Diagram of Samy & Amy Meltdown

Yelp may not be the go-to source for restaurant reviews. Why? Amy's Baking Company has 1131 reviews, 99.9% of which are snarky, mean, negative “reviews.” How many of those 1131 reviewers actually ate at the restaurant and how many just piled on for flash mob social media bashing? 99.9%[read more]

Amy’s Baking Company has been at the centre of one the biggest social media fails of all time. Can businesses recover from such huge social media fails? You simply cannot expect to speak to people like this and expect to quickly rekindle any iota of positive sentiment that may have existed before.[read more]

When Wal-Mart announced plans to use its retail locations to fulfill online orders last week, the media and business community broke into a collective game of word association. The word? Amazon. At the end of the day, Wal-Mart’s rise to online dominance really just revolves around turning an otherwise complicated shopping experience into one that feels quaint and easy.[read more]

Just because a company does not have a dedicated presence for customer service on social networks doesn’t mean that customers understand the difference. To everyday consumers, a Facebook page or a Twitter handle is the brand. Customers do not see silos, they see one company.[read more]