TORONTO – Making a complaint about a bad customer experience and getting a resolution has just gone social.
Dave Carroll’s video rant about United Airlines breaking his guitar became a YouTube sensation a few years ago. Sure it was a catchy tune, but it was his message that connected with millions of people: customers’ complaints needed to be heard and brands needed to start paying more attention to social media conversations.
That experience led Carroll to co-found and recently launch a social media customer complaint resolution site called Gripevine.com Carroll says he got the idea after receiving tens of thousands of emails from disgruntled customers, needing help to figure out their complaints.
Gripevine allows users to sign-up for free and make their complaint about a company, directly connecting with them with the powers that be. The hook, Carroll says, is that if companies don’t respond to the complaint, they have the potential to face a social media nightmare with re-tweets and Facebook shares in their imminent future.
The premise of what happened in the United Breaks Guitar case was a bit of a signal to marketers to pay more attention to social media, says David Dunne, adjunct professor at Rotman’s School of Business in Toronto.
It not only changed the way marketers paid attention to what people on social media platforms had to say. It also showed that brands no longer controlled the message and what was more important were the messages that consumers are giving to each other about the brand.
So what are some ways social media’s changed customer service? Here are 5 things you should know:
1. Consumers are talking back: Dunne explains that the United Breaks Guitars case was a dramatic instance where social media was used to resolve a customer complaint. What used to be a one-way conversation between advertisers and consumers has turned into a situation where consumers can talk back. Brands, listen up and monitor the chatter.
2. The message is in the hands of the consumers: Consumers have always controlled the brand, but it’s much more explicit now, says Dunne. Controlling the representation of the logo and the colours is a company-side exercise, but if somebody wants to do a parody ad on YouTube about the brand, there is nothing stopping them.
3. Social media platforms are becoming in-house marketing research: Alex Carroni, media relations for Deeley-Harley Davidson Canada explains with more than 5 million Facebook fans, Harley can now learn about what customers want, like and dislike. She says what you see now in terms of Harley ad campaigns. that we in Canada adopt and use is, basically the result of feedback that comes straight down from the people interacting with social media.
4. Extends the purchase to ‘an experience’: Carroni says social media platforms lend themselves to experiential marketing, where the consumer has direct input into the approach a brand takes to marketing it. This makes it more personal and part of an experience. “I am being asked what I would like to see out of this brand and if there is a change in direction my input will have been valued,” says Carroni.
5. More authentic information: People aren’t forced to be on social media, so when they’re engaging in conversations, people listen. As Dunne explains, it’s a perfect loop of listening to consumers, changing things and listening again.
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