Fat Face, a UK clothing brand freshly announced that it was going to run customer services via @fatfacedotcom on Twitter. Much of the coverage relating to customer services is based on US companies such as @comcastcares and @southwestair, so I thought I would look at companies in the UK, which are doing customer services via Twitter. Although these companies may have been later to start then their US counterparts, they are are doing well and may have outshone those social media commentators’ US favourites.

So who are they?

BT

BT is the biggest fixed line telecommunications company in the UK  and has the largest number of customers supported via @btcare out of all of the examples. This has been a successful implementation by Graeme Stoker, who was responsible for researching and developing this support channel. As with all of the examples used in this lineup; BT is being both reactive and proactive in their assault.

easyJet

Whilst at easyJet, a European low fares airline carrying around 50 million customers annually, I started @easyJetcare and it was one of the first companies in the UK to offer customer services via Twitter. @easyJetcare was used with success during the severe snow of wintertime 09/10 and shows that social media can play a part in crisis management.

Carphone Warehouse

Another organisation inside the telecommunications sector is @cpwcares set up by Guy Stephens who now moderates a group called Where Social Media Meets Customer Service on Linkedin.com. Although somewhat smaller then the previous two examples, it still does great work in engaging customers. As Carphone Warehouse is part owned by Best Buy, a large US electrical retailer, it will be interesting to see what elements of the successful social media strategy Best Buy will bring to the table.

Virgin Trains

@virgintrains was started by Rich Baker following a move to a new role as Head of Customer Services of Virgin Trains (a UK rail company). Rich thought it would be a great way to engage with customers and this is how the programme snowballed. It still continues to support and offer advice to customers who use its rail network.

Not renowned for customer services

It is interesting that some of the pioneers in the UK are not always renowned for their levels of customer services but they all are pretty dominant within their respective market. Even more interesting is the fact that all four of the examples where set up by one individual within each company, who saw the potential in the use of  social media to support customers.

What can we learn from these companies?

Whether your company is renowned for great customer services or not, there is no escaping from the fact that all businesses have a need to engage with customers via whatever channel the customer wants; this could be via Facebook, Twitter or even a customer forum. In a recent post on the Gartner blog; Twitter Jitters in Customer Service, Michael Maoz questioned 250 customer service executives, he found only 15% had a Twitter strategy for customer services and this proves companies still have a long way to go before grasping new technology.

What is happening in your country?

Do you know any other companies outside of the US who are doing well with their use of Twitter to offer customer support, may be in France, Germany or Spain? Goto www.customerfuturology.com to post comments.

Social Media Customer Services

If you own business, whether it is a new business or a business that has been around for a long time, you will know that marketing your business is very important if you want it to survive. There is no business in the world that can survive without some sort of marketing. In the older days there was word of mouth, and almost all business depended on their loyal customers and clients to tell the people they knew about a certain business.

New Method of Marketing:
This type of marketing was very effective and did the job for almost all of the businesses around. Then, a few years later, came newspapers, and people started using those as a marketing tool, and then came the radio and that become a marketing tool and then after that came the TV and that too became a marketing tool. After all of the changes in the marketing arena word of mouth fell away, and people were paying to get word of their business out to the general public, and other people stopped talking about great service they got at places.

Marketing Cost Effectively!
However, word of mouth marketing has made its way back on the scene, in a way. This has come about with a brand new marketing tool, and probably the biggest marketing tool that mankind has ever seen -the internet. There are many different types of ways to market your business on the internet. Yes, you do get the paid ways, and many people are using these ways to get their messages out, but word of mouth has made it back through social networking websites. Take Twitter as an example, it has not been around for a very long time, but it has helped many people market their company at no cost, and all they needed to do is sign up to get a profile.

Social Networking and Marketing:
With most social networking websites, like Facebook for example, you need to have people on your profile in order for them to see what you are doing. However, with twitter, if you made your profile public, anybody searching the network with a keyword that relates to your blog will be able to see what you are up to.

Marketing For Your Business:
This is why so many businesses have started using this method of advertising. Say you sell houses in the US and want people to visit your site. All you need to do is join Twitter, make your profile public and start tweeting with keywords you think people will type into the search function of the Twitter site, like House for Sale. Once people find your tweet, they find your site and you start getting more traffic at your official website because of the Twitter blogging network. The more people that find your blog, the more potential traffic you get.

Author: Jason C. Smithe
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Digital TV, HDTV, Satellite TV