Boost Customer Service with

Social Media

Give your audience a better online experience.

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Mike Petroff

• Web Manager for Enrollment Management at Emerson

College in Boston, MA

• Oversee online communications to prospective students

• Manage social media channels for Emerson College with

Office of Marketing and Communications

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Customer Relationship Cycle

Brand Quality

Regular Customers

Word of Mouth

New Customers

Customer Experience

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University Spending

Brand Quality

Consulting

Staff

Money

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Customer Cycle Disconnect

Brand Quality

Regular Customers

Word of Mouth

New Customers

Customer Experience

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Stop Treating New Customers like

One-Night Stands!

Brand Quality

Regular Customers

Word of Mouth

New Customers

Customer Experience

Lose New Customers

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Our Grandparents Had It Right

Close, personal relationships with stores

Small communities that shared product information and

recommendations

Niche stores that sold specific goods

Develop life-long partnerships with brands

1920’s – 1950’s

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Brands Become Global

Broad, impersonal relationships

Large communities with little interaction

Customers develop life-long partnerships with brands

because of constant advertising

1960’s – 1980’s

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The Internet and e-Commerce

Make Things Even Worse

Automation of call centers and customer services

Less in-person interaction leads to more impersonal relationships

Customers develop short-term relationships with brands because of infinite choice

Brands care less about local customers because of true global reach of their brand

1990’s – 2000’s

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Social Media Changes

Everything? Not Really…

Close, personal relationships with brands

Small communities that share product information and

recommendations

Niche stores that sold specific goods

Develop life-long partnerships with brands because of quality customer service and interactions

mid-late 2000’s

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Social Relationship Cycle

Brand Quality

Regular Customers

Word of Mouth

New Customers

Customer Experience

Social

Social

Social

Social

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Develop the Culture Before

Investing in the Technology

• Focus on engagement

• Find employees that are passionate about your brand

• Exceed expectations and give your customers what they need

before they ask for it

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Web Tools to Improve Engagement

and Customer Service

Chat Video Listening Surveys Social

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Set Up Listening Stations

• Google Reader and Google

Alerts

• Hootsuite or Tweetdeck

• Facebookhttp://youropenbook.o

rg/

• Radian6 and other paid services

http://bit.ly/SMlistening

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Set Up Listening Stations

Know what to look for:

• Monitor positive and negative

feedback about your company

• Track industry trends and know

your competitors

• Create daily or weekly reporting

strategy and update staff about

online chatter and trends

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Go Where Your Customers Go

Frequently visit websites like:

• CollegeProwler.com

• StudentsReview.com

• Unigo.com

• Yahoo Answers

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Real-Time Online Chat

Embed real-time chat options like

Meebo or Olark on high-traffic

sections of your website:

• Admissions

• Academics

• Directions

• Events

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Meebo Me Widget

• Allows you to embed a chat

directly within your website

• Meebo account required

• Embedded using a HTML + Flash

widget

• Size, colors and text customizable

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http://www.meebo.com/meebome/

Olark Real-time Chat

• Embed chat and real-time

monitoring on your site

• Initiate chat with your visitors

• Monthly cost (free trial)

• Install requires a few lines of

JavaScript

• Example:

http://www.fhu.edu/admissions/

apply

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http://www.olark.com

Web Video & Audio Chat

Schools using services like Skype and Adobe Connect for video and audio chats:

One-on-one chats using Skype

• Ask A Librarian at Ohio University http://www.library.ohiou.edu/ask/skype.html

• Current student Skype sessionshttp://admit.indiana.edu/skype/index.shtml

Admission Information Sessions in Adobe Connect

• Emerson College Graduate Admissionhttp://www.emerson.edu/admission/graduate-admission/learn/webinars

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Online Surveys

Improve the customer experience by following up with surveys:

• Customers want to be heard

• Find inefficiencies and correct them earlier

• Connect surveys at the end of any process (events, application cycle, etc.)

• How to Use Online Tools for Customer Surveys: http://bit.ly/SurveyHelp

• Examples: SurveyMonkey, Zoomerang, Wufoo, Google Docs

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Real-time Feedback with KISSinsights

• Ask a question and your

customers see it slide up from the

bottom corner of your website

• Short surveys are more likely to

be completed by a customer

• Find out more about inbound

traffic or customer experience

• Monthly cost

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http://www.kissinsights.com/

Social Tools

• Social tools allow customers to

assist each other

• Allow brands to answer single

questions but reach a wide

audience

• Everyone knows about Facebook

and Twitter

• Others include GetSatisfaction

and Formspring

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Facebook and Twitter

• Develop infrastructure to support

answering questions and

requests within 24 hours

(weekends too!)

• Respect all users (you can’t

assume that they have little or no

influence)

• Need to respond? There’s a

workflow for that:

http://bit.ly/SM-response-guide

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GetSatisfaction

• “Simple way to build online

communities that enable

productive conversations

between companies and their

customers”

• Example: Tech Help at Biola

University:

http://techcommunity.biola.edu/

biola_it

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http://getsatisfaction.com/

Formspring

• Allows customers to submit

questions and get public

responses

• Allows companies to ask

questions and get customer

feedback

• Example: Formspring embedded

on St. Michael’s College blogs

website:

http://www.smcvt.edu/blogs/

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http://www.formspring.me/

Examples of Customer

Engagement Using Social Media

@ComcastCares

http://rww.to/comcast-cares

Old Spice Guy on YouTube

http://rww.to/old-spice-guy-videos

Zappos culture

http://mashable.com/2009/04/26/zappos/

http://twitter.zappos.com/

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- Gary Vaynerchuk

Thank You Economy

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“Learn how to implement a culture of caring

and communication into your business, scale

your one-to-one relationships, and watch

your customers reward your efforts by using

their new and massively powerful word of

mouth to market your business and your

brand for you.”

Questions?

Questions? Resources

Thank you!

For more information:

Twitter: @mikepetroff

Email: mikepetroff@gmail.com

Web: http://mikepetroff.com

Blog: http://www.doteduguru.com

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