Think Twitter Isn’t Worth Monitoring?

Peter Shankman, a well-known social media speaker, NASA enthusiast and carnivore, was recently traveling home from a business trip from Tampa when he sent out a tweet that showed customer service at its finest.

Simply put:

After his flight landed on time (a rarity which anyone who has flown in or out of EWR would know):

First, WOW, @Mortens now delivers and takes orders off Twitter!! Just kidding, but what this does show, is that they are paying attention. Whether they know Mr. Shankman is a frequent dinner or that they monitor Twitter and wanted to pull one of the best customer service stunts in the history of social media (so far). Maybe they got lucky and picked the right person who has over 100,000 followers and is a media mogul. For whatever the reason, the company showed how all companies should be utilizing social media and not too bad of a publicity stunt!

No matter your business size, what are you doing to improve your customer service to make them go and tell their friends? With Google Panda updates social is playing a bigger role in how your customers can find you. There is no budget constraint, no specific entry point, just jump in and LISTEN to your customers!

Using Twitter to Get Customer Service

I’ve read a couple blog posts in the blogosphere about people who’ve expressed their feelings about a specific website or product, and a while later, being contacted by a representative from that website or company trying to resolve the problem. I think the idea is pretty neat, and makes Twitter a great tool for businesses to assist their customers or potential customers.

Some companies such as Comcast and Southwest Airlines are involved in the Twitter community, monitoring and informing customers about deals and other news. These Twitter pages are usually monitored by an employee that responds to a customer concern by sending a direct response using @username or a direct message, which is similar to a private message.

How can you monitor if people are talking about your company or product? Using a site called Tweet Scan, you can type a keyword, such a company name, and a list of Twitter users mentioning that company name or keyword. I think this is a good way to interact with others, and the idea that a company responds to a Twitter user personally will make that user feel like they’re important, which is good online reputation management.