Cover Slide. Incorporating Social Media and Customer Service: How to Develop a Strategy

Transcription

1 VIPdesk Webinar Series April 6, 2010 Cover Slide Incorporating Social Media and Customer Service: How to Develop a Strategy Presented by: Blake Cahill: SVP of Marketing, Visible Technologies Hosted by: Mary Naylor: CEO, VIPdesk

2 About The Host Mary Naylor CEO VIPdesk Mary Naylor is the CEO and Co-founder of VIPdesk VIPdesk provides concierge-quality contact center solutions for leading global brands through our nationwide network of home-based Brand Ambassadors, Concierge, and Customer Service Representatives. VIPdesk provides its clients Concierge, Contact Center, and Social Media support services. VIPdesk is continually recognized through numerous awards, including the Inc. 500, Inc. 5000, NCBEA Business Ethics Award, Stevie Awards for Women in Business and Smart CEO Future 50. Confidential & Proprietary VIPdesk Information 2

3 About The Presenter Blake Cahill SVP of Marketing Visible Technologies Blake is the SVP of Marketing with Visible Technologies He develops and leads all of Visible Technologies activities/programs related to sales, business development, brand development, market positioning press and analyst relations, lead development, and thought leadership. Blake is passionate about the role of social media in corporate communications and is a frequent speaker on the influence of social media. He is a member of WOMMA and MTIX. Confidential & Proprietary VIPdesk Information 3

4 About Visible Technologies Visible Technologies Powered by the industry-leading trucast technology platform, Visible Technologies helps clients successfully monitor, analyze, and participate in social media conversations, as well as protect their reputations online Founded in 2005 Headquarter in Bellevue, WA with 95+ employees Sample Customers: Microsoft, Xerox, Autodesk, Dr. Pepper Awards Won:

5 About VIPdesk VIPdesk s full suite of Brand Experience Management solutions include Virtual Concierge and Contact Center Services, Social Media Management, Experiential Programs, IVR Services and Voice of the Customer Surveying & Analytics. Global industry leaders trust VIPdesk to enhance their brands through our customer care and loyalty programs. Serving as a seamless extension of their brands, our innovative Brand Experience Management Solutions deliver memorable customer experiences, business insights and actionable intelligence that generate customer advocacy and drive business growth.

6 Agenda Setting goals and objectives for your social media efforts Getting buy-in Resources required to successfully implement a social media plan Tools to use Measurement of success And more! Confidential & Proprietary VIPdesk Information 6

7 Why is Social Media Important to Customer Service Organizations?

8 Social Media Has Exploded

9

10 4 OUT OF 5 AMERICANS USE SOCIAL MEDIA. Forrester, The Growth Of Social Technology Adoption, 2009

11 of bloggers post opinions about products & brands

12 of consumers trust peer recommendations

13 of those users blog or tweet daily

14 CONSUMERS NOW CONTROL THE (In other words) CONVERSATION

15

16 DON T PANIC

17

18 Social Strategy Challenges & Opportunities

19 Social Media Challenges for Organizations Overwhelming amounts of data determining what to track and analyze Separating insights and issues from useless data identifying who and what matters Communicating with your customers in an organized, effective manner Coordination of ownership/participation across the organization ROI measurements

20 Benefits of Driving & Engaging with Social Media Reputation Management Customer Service Marketing Competitive Intelligence

21 Adoption spans the enterprise from: Marketing, Operations, Sales, and Customer Support Tactical Strategic Research and Innovation Trade Promotion Management Product and Services Positioning Customer Promotion Management Customer Support Customer Relationships Enterprise Business Intelligence Integration Identify Consumer Segmentation Trend and Sentiment analysis Marketing Relationship Management Manage Crisis Communications Reputation Management Monitor Brand & Image Listen & Learn Be a proactive part of the conversation Engage & Respond Adapt to Changing Market Conditions By Listening and Learning any organization will more effective Engage with and Respond to customer needs. Empower customers and create loyal and satisfied customers

22 Developing a Customer Focused Social Media Strategy

23 Social Strategy Objectives Objectives for Social programs need to be clearly outlined so that team members understand the bigger picture surrounding their individual roles. Some common goals include: Changing customer service perceptions from negative to neutral or positive Providing fence sitters (neutral and mixed sentiment) with technical information and guidance to promote educated purchasing decisions while increasing positive sentiment Driving traffic and technical discussions back to the company s own forum and blogs Building relationships with key influencers (top authors) Building brand awareness Promoting special events 23

24 Getting corporate buy-in It is necessary to have corporate buy-in in order for any customer-facing program to succeed Develop a plan and present hard data re: the benefits of social customer service to the corporate bottom line 24

25 The Do s and Don ts of An Effective Social Media Strategy

26 Before Getting Started Ask yourself What do I want to know? What customers think about my company, competitors, service levels, products, etc.? Issues or problems with my company's offerings? Who needs to know? Executive team, service and support staff, managers, sales and marketing department? What do I want to do with this info? Improve my offerings, stay competitive, retain customers? Where are my relevant consumers online? yelp, citysearch, community forums, twitter, review sites? What are the right topics to monitor? What key words or phrases should you be monitoring? What tools should I use? What s available to monitor and measure social media?

27 Begin with a Framework 1 Listen 2 Learn 3 Measure 4 Engage 5 Repeat! Listen to find the right conversations, sites and online communities Learn from the wisdom of the crowd about customer perceptions and experiences with your products and services and competitors Measure the impact on your brand and benchmark against your competitors to improve your business Engage with consumers and key influencers to change negative perception and build brand loyalty

28 DON T MARKET YOUR CREATE MESSAGE SOCIAL EXPERIENCES

29 SOCIAL CONVERSATIONS MUST BE ALL-INCLUSIVE

30 SOCIAL CONVERSATIONS MUST BE VIBRANT

31 SOCIAL CONVERSATIONS MUST BE AUTHENTIC

32 SOCIAL CONVERSATIONS MUST BE TRANSPARENT

33 Scaling Social Programs Scaling the Program Involvement for engagement will depend on the type: marketing, crisis management, customer service, tech support Full time engagers should be able to respond to approximately threads per day Most companies will start with 1 3 part time, and ramp up to 2 3 full time engagers or more, depending on volume and complexity of content Pilot & Listen Listen Learn Engagement Indirect Engagement Direct Outreach Strategy Expansion Program Development Strategy based on solid understanding of Influencer needs 33

34 Defining Components Actionable Content It s important to identify for engaging team members what content is considered to be actionable, or engagement-worthy, content. Examples of commonly flagged content appropriate for engagement include: Posts with positive, neutral, or mixed sentiment Posts written within the past 5 days, or still have active comments Posts where users are asking questions and requesting more information Posts that contain inaccurate information about your brand or product Blacklisted Content Sometimes users will need to refrain from responding to particular types of content or sites where corporations are strictly prohibited from participation without paid subscription. Examples of commonly blacklisted content include: Posts that are flaming, raging, or use excessive profanity Posts that are older than 5 days, or no longer have active comments Posts on sites X, Y, and Z which prohibit corporate participation Pricing Discussions 34

35 Five Tips for Success Build strategy with scalability in mind Monitoring should answer business questions Execute disciplined participation Measure and modify Strategy + people + technology + services 35

36 Be Where Customers Are Don t just participate where your CEO thinks you should be Identify where your customers are and develop a presence where they can easily communicate with you Determining the forums in which to participate should be an early part of your research and planning 36

37 How to Measure Success

38 Determine Success Metrics Early Where s the ROI? Conversation volume Conversation Sentiment Author Influence Relevance How big is the space? What is the overall sentiment? Who s important? How much is relevant? How well are my engagements doing? What sites are they on? What s the overall topic breakdown?

39 Success Metrics - Sentiment Analysis Tracking changes in sentiment of conversations overtime (in conjunction with actions taken by marketers or organizations to move this indicator) is a KPI (Key Performance Indicator) that most best-in-class organizations have adopted. Note: Our client data suggests that typically, less than 25% of statements made about any given topic within the social media space contain sentiment.

40 Case Study: DIRECTV

41 Listen Act Learn Adapt [ to immediate needs ] [ to change best practices ] Listen Again [ for impact ]

42 Case Study #2 You Do Not Control The Message Our Loyal Customer

43 Acting on LA LA over 30 days Listen Act Learn Adapt

44 Listen Act Learn Adapt Listen closely. Act on what you hear. Learn what is important. Adapt Business Practices. = Loyal Customers + Relevant Products & Services

45

46 Questions Thank You Blake Cahill SVP of Marketing, Visible Technologies On twitter 46

47 Upcoming VIPdesk Webinars April 27: Learn how to improve your customer experience via a home-based team May 11: Social Media: How it Fits Into Your Customer Marketing and Retention Strategy May 25: Virtual Customer Care and the Financial Services Industry For more information or to register for the VIPdesk Webinar series, visit Confidential & Proprietary VIPdesk Information 47

48 Connect With Us Online Website: Blog: Twitter: Facebook: LinkedIn: YouTube: Via RSS: Confidential & Proprietary VIPdesk Information 48

49 Thank you! Blake Cahill SVP of Marketing Mary Naylor CEO (703) Confidential & Proprietary VIPdesk Information 49