Posts Tagged ‘Jars of Clay’
Social media and customer service…
I just had a tweet hit my phone. Okay, I have lots of them hit it… but this one was different. It wasn’t Darth Vader trash talking the Rebels, or McCain commenting on the latest meeting he’s in. It wasn’t the usual prose from a fly fishing writer buddy pondering the meaning of life on a small stream somewhere in the world… or even my daughter’s facebook status update that she posts via twitter.
The tweet I am referring to came from Dan Haseltine (scribblepotamus), who’s job is to sing for Jars of Clay. He has a modest following on the social phenomenon that is twitter of just under 2,700 followers.
The message was simple, and to the point – a factor of the 140 character limit imposed by twitter:
scribblepotamus “Is confident that the airline industry is the least customer friendly and they don’t care… More to come”
So there his subscribers were, hanging on the “more to come…” Sympathetically pondering something we all likely have experienced in one way or another. Six minutes later, more did come:
scribblepotamus “AA wouldn’t give a flight credit to our crew member who had to change a flight cuz his wife went into labor. Hmmm… Not helpful at all”
That simple message hit roughly 2,700 people within seconds of the event that inspired it. One random act of poor service, and WHAM! We now have a situation, and a company, and the seed has been planted.
This chain of events got me thinking. What is the real implication of the new Social Media and customer service? Can it be measured? Even more importantly, for a truly exceptional service company or provider, can it be LEVERAGED? I recently asked a good friend in the business of studying leadership and the continuum of human behavior about how his company is using Web2.0 media. Then this happens with twitter. I’m not sure where my mind is going, but feel free to join me.
This also jogged my memory – I have my own AA story that I may share someday that would begin with “There’s really no good place to sleep in the airport in New Delhi…”
Social Media and Customer Service. I’ll get back to you on this one. In the mean time, feel free to post or email your thoughts.
Dan, I’m really sorry about the lack of service your crew member received, but really appreciate the tweet. I hope Dad, Mom and baby are well.
Tags: American Airlines, Jars of Clay, poor customer service