The IMPACT of Social Media

Phone Customer Service or Social Media?

Ever have trouble reaching customer service by phone for one of your utilities or home services, like your phone or internet or tv connections and more?

I have.  I have had several instances of problems with either internet or tv connections or both and in trying to reach the correct department to correct it, was rerouted so many times, I ended up on the phone for a half hour without accomplishing a thing and feeling frustrated and like I'd lost my time - oh, wait...I DID lose my time.

Frustration turns to Connecting

So...this weekend, I became frustrated with Verizon over my phone service, and after spending time on the phone fruitlessly, I gave up and looked for an email address on their website.  Finding none, I did locate Facebook and Twitter buttons on their site, so I hit the Facebook button and was taken directly to their page to "Like" it.  

Oh, what the heck... I'm not feeling warm and fuzzy towards them right now, but maybe "liking" their page will take me to some information I can use to contact them better.  And sure enough, it revealed my chance to direct message them, and only minutes after doing so, I was contacted on my Facebook page by them, and my outcome there was so successful!... 

That I had to try it again.  Tonight, I came home to problems with my Direct Tv service, so after a brief call with someone who did not seem able to help, I Tweeted them...and magically was responded to RIGHT AWAY!

The IMPACT of Social Media

Okay, so if you don't know by now the IMPACT that social media has, isn't it time you learn? 

Do you know that Pepsi passed up ads on the Super Bowl to spend $21 million (that's MILLION) on Social Media?!  Obama's second term is accredited to his use of social media, and so is unrest in Egypt and impact on Iran's elections.

News travels at the speed of light over Twitter and Facebook connections and connecting with others across the world is only seconds away through social networking sites.  

Marketing with Social Media

But perhaps one of the largest impacts has been on marketing and how companies treat their patrons...  Companies are connecting more fully with their customers through social media, building long-lasting relationships this way, but also are more careful about how they treat their customers as those same strong relationships can turn very publicly sour quickly if a customer on the social media networks is mistreated.

Have you used social media to reach out to a company?  If so, what was your experience with it?...good?... bad?  Please share with us in the comments below: