henkybaby

Slight correction... I was explaining the amount of customers you reach for marketing purposes by using some numbers anyone can look up. Just to give a sense of volume. Much like BA will monitor the page visits on their website or the click throughs on their web ads. In reality the volumes they reach on social are much higher because not everyone you interact with necessary 'likes' or 'shares' or 'retweets' you. It is not even addressing the customer service aspect!

The importance of the social channel is so high that a highly respectable airline is investing in it. Now I know we are all armchair CEOs of MyAir Inc. but in reality we know very little about either airline marketing or airline customer service. Unless we do some research of course.

I have set up customer services (including social) for telecom operators, local / national government agencies and some others who would be too easily identified. It has always had the same effect: they realise marketing & customer service are the same thing! That simple fact is lost on so many companies. That means they will start refocusing their resources. Instead of expensive advertising they may spend more money on improving customer service even if that is through a channel some here do not believe in. In no universe is that a bad thing.

HIDDY

It would be interesting to see the profiles of those who like to Like.

I can't complain....I got a free Milepoint T shirt out of being liked....at least I think that was why I got it.

shorthauldad

...you may well be reaching mainly 13 to 17 year olds from India, Egypt, Indonesia and the Philippines, many of them with fake profiles; but at least the numbers will look good in your next Powerpoint iPad presentation.

There are so many potholes in the social media "road to success"; people who do this for their day job are paid-up "believers" so I guess the rest of us just have to put up with it for now.

It does remind me of the people who were trying to sell me .com shares in 1999, though; "this is the new paradigm" / "get on board now or you'll miss out" / etc etc etc.

Just a hint of IBGYBG too.

Let's put this thread in deep-freeze for five years or so and see what's happened. My guess things will have completely changed, again, in that time.

HIDDY

Even the professionals can get it wrong.

Did Google not scrap something which was "going to change how everyone communicated" not that long ago?

henkybaby

As I said earlier, this is a problem but not unique to social media. This also happens for banners and web ads. In that sense it is very old news and it has not paralysed the web ad industry. It also has nothing to do with my opening post which deals with customer service, not marketing.

One of the reasons that real interaction (like KLM) is worth so much more than a simple FB page with no other purpose than 'being there'. Something we also already discussed.

The point - once again - is that social is becoming more and more a successful channel for customer service (for all the reasons already mentioned) and it would be good if BA started doing that too. At least look at it.

Oh, and you're mixing metaphors again. An iPad is a device you could use to show presentations, PowerPoint (or Keynote) is a program to make presentations.

EDIT: for irony's sake - http://www.chron.com/news/article/Tw...et-3737646.php and http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/3672...ssenger-pc.htm

HIDDY

You can make a success out of anything just by throwing enough money at it......a good temporary ploy to attract people into using it. Once the budget gets cut then that side of customer service might go into decline and normal service will resume through the usual channels......email and phone.
It could just be a fad so I think only time will tell how successful this social media is...until then the jury will be out on this one I think.

henkybaby

As I said before: introducing social media will actually drive down the cost and increase customer satisfaction. In now way are my clients 'throwing money at it'. There is a clear ROI and it is within one book year.

Seriously? In my world the jury has been sent home ages ago.

BizFlyin

I think you should try using twitter and then rejoin the discussion

Hobbes01

And how long has email been "the usual channel"?! Given how relatively quickly faxes have been relegated, you could almost call that a fad!

Hobbes01

(Bolding and snipping of quotes mine) I agree with your posts in this thread, but not sure I understand these two!

henkybaby

Well, they do seem contradictory. I wanted to prevent to get into a discussion on the marketing value of social media and the 'like' function. That is why I limited my OP to using the social channel for customer service and if that would benefit us, BA customers.

However, when you use social as a customer service channel you inevitably discover that you are also doing marketing. Maybe even more effective marketing than in the 'traditional sense'.

So, customer service through social is most certainly marketing but not all marketing activity on social is customer service.

Hobbes01

Absolutely. I think all public actions by a company are marketing (even if they don't mean them to be) so all CS is marketing (the link about O2 somewhere up-thread was an excellent example) but the reverse is not true.

This is also why any post on this board by somebody known to be a BA employee will for me always reflect on the company in some way, regardless of any disclaimers about them being personal views.

henkybaby

Indeed. Social only makes the CS aspect more visible. You can see how and when KLM reacts to posts on FB for instance. That makes it very different from 'regular' CS. Social makes individual CS more, well, social.

HIDDY

Well you can still fax using a PC plus a notebook is more portable than a fax machine.
I think the risk of twitter is that you might start alienating far too many of your customers....especially if you're seen to be providing a better service through it.
What % of BA customers use a PC but don't want to use Twitter I wonder?

DYKWIA

Which one?

Google Wave
Google Buzz
Google+ (still going, I think, maybe)