Why Is Utilizing Social Media in Customer Service Important?

Some people may find this hard to believe, but even today in the year 2014; I’ve routinely heard customer service representatives refer to social media as a “fad”.  A surprising number of business professionals put next to zero value in managing online social media accounts because they fail to see its importance.

I would like to share with you something I learned Sunday evening: There’s a branch of Avis/Budget car rentals in Portland Oregon that provides awful customer service.  Wait actually I can be even more specific.  The branch is the one on Washington Street, and the awful customer service is taking rental car reservations despite having zero cars on the lot.  Not specific enough?  The woman at the desk actually yells at the customers, “It’s not our fault we ran out of cars!”  Oh, and her name is Ursula.

You probably think that in order for me to know all of these details I must be that customer who was yelled at.  Nope.  Well, then the customer must be a close friend or a family member.  Nope.   Perhaps, I’m a close friend of Ursula.  Nope.  Well, maybe I’m actually Ursula and this is some sort of confession.  Nope.   Actually, I don’t know the customer or anyone involved personally, nor have I have ever even been to Portland…or Oregon…or a state that borders Oregon.  Also, I’ve never dealt with any branch of Avis or Budget – I’ve actually never rented a car and I didn’t learn this information while searching for anything remotely related to renting a car.  I read about the customer’s horrible experience looking at my Twitter feed.

That’s a screenshot of just one of an entire slew of Tweets from comic book writer of Batgirl, Gail Simone.  She detailed her entire experience Sunday evening on Twitter for her 52,000 followers to see.  And as you can see above this tweet received 14 re-tweets and 52 favorites.  Each snippet of her experience has similar or greater than share numbers.  That means that the original 52,000 followers that the tweets were shared with are now extending further beyond her network to followers of followers and so on.  As a comic book writer, Gail Simone doesn’t have millions of followers like big-name celebrities, but the effects are evident.  It’s probably a good thing a big-name celebrity never complains about a business online.

Oops, maybe they do.  Now, these are extreme examples, if you’re running a local business odds are Will Smith isn’t going to come by and then follow up his visit by slamming you on social media.  However, the average person has over 250 people in their personal networks.  And if one or two per week are complaining about you online, it doesn’t take very many weeks to cripple your business.  And as you can see, complaints aren’t just going to review sites such as Yelp or Google.  Each day the number of users on sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumbler, etc. are growing exponentially.  And if you handle your business and online reputation the correct way, customers on these sites will be telling their hundreds of friends how great you are!

Above is an example from Gail Simone the same evening after her ordeal was resolved by another branch and you can see people are perfectly happy to favorite and share the good opinions of your business as much as they do with the bad.  This is why there’s no need to view Social Media as a hassle, because the reality is proper management can turn Social Media into the best thing that’s ever happened to your business.

DeliveryMaxx is a full digital service provider for Social Media Marketing, Online Reputation Management, Search Engine Optimization, and complete Content Management program.  Their Patent-Pending Program cannot be duplicated and gives their family of clients a competitive advantage.  Clients include automotive dealerships, attorneys, church organizations, non-profits, hotels & hospitality and many more.   For more information visit http://www.deliverymaxx.com or contact 888.936.6299.

DeliveryMaxx Presents How to Use Hashtags

The world of social media is constantly changing and evolving and for the average person it is difficult to keep track of the sites and methods that are most effective.  One question we at DeliveryMaxx hear often is “How do I use hashtags?”

First what is a hashtag?  A hashtag is essentially a tag and allows you to “tag” or “label” a short message similarly to how you tag and label a blog.  Twitter is the social media template where hashtags originally gained wide popularity, but the use of hashtags first began on Internet Relay Chat.  Today hashtags are relevant on a wide array of social media sites including Instagram and Facebook.

Within a post you can add a “#” in front of a word or phrase to hashtag it.  For example in the sentence: “I don’t know how to use #hashtags.”  In that post you have effectively hashtagged your post to let the world know exactly what you’re talking about, you’re talking about hashtags.  You can also add a hashtag to the end of the sentence to be more effective.  “I don’t know how to use #hashtags.  #SocialMedia.”  Remember when hashtagging a phrase you don’t want any spaces in between the words.

So now you know what hashtags are and how to use them, before you hop onto Twitter and go crazy remember this.  DO NOT OVERUSE HASHTAGS.  #WaitWhat?  

“Don’t I want to use as many tags as possible within my posts so more people see it?”  The short answer to this question is, NO.  The number one thing about internet marketing businesses often forget when using hashtags on Twitter and Facebook is you’re trying to narrow down your reach.  

While this may be a difficult concept to grasp, consider this.  When you’re posting about the World Series should you tag your post with “#Sports”?  Sports encompass a lot of things, not just baseball and your chances of someone clicking on #Sports to connect with others talking about the World Series are slim to none.  #MLB is a lot better and #WorldSeries is ideal.  Now you know you are connecting with the correct people.

Similarly if you’re managing a Chevrolet dealership in Dallas it doesn’t matter if someone looking for a Honda in New York City knows you exist.  Even using “#Dallas” is an overuse, there’s a lot of people in Dallas, some talking about bars and clubs, some about the Maverick’s opening night tonight, etc.  “#DallasChevrolet” or “#ChevyDallas” stand the best chance reaching your target audience.

Making your hashtags specific and limiting them to one or two in a post is the best way to achieve Social Media Engagement and connect with the people who are relevant to your business and community.  And doing that will make you #OneHappyPerson

DeliveryMaxx is the fastest growing Social Media Engagement and Online Reputation Management for more information about the experts at DeliveryMaxx visit http://www.deliverymaxx.com