Customer Service and Social Media Now Inseparable

Just as much as Marketing and Sales, Social Media is a new, inseparable component of Customer Service.


Last Friday a recruiter called me for a recommendation and mentioned she had been to my Linked In listing and even visited this blog. Before speaking with me she already knew a great deal about both my professional career and my current thinking on a number of business issues.


She told me she that Social Media is become increasingly important in recruitment and that she "has to start Twittering". I encouraged her to start ... the sooner the better.


"Start now" is the advice I give everyone whose job it is to "stay connected" ... and who's isn't?


It reminds me of the advice given to me years ago by a friend's father, who happened to be an undertaker in a small Alabama community.


"Speak to everyone, be nice ... and you'll get them in the end," his father told us, tongue firmly in cheek.


Years before "Six Feet Under" on HBO, he understood that in his small world today's friend is tomorrow's customer.


What was true of a small community then is today true of whole industries and markets in an ever shrinking globe.


So what's a fella or gal to do?


Get connected, get social, become informed, follow people you respect (or just like) on Twitter. Follow blogs on broader issues effecting your industry.

Understand the Facebook Community and how it differs from MySpace. Check out the new tools on Google and Twitter. Update your listings on Linked In and Plaxo.

Customer Service managers, in particular, have a responsibility to discuss Social Media and support best practices.


Find out what's happening in Social Media and you are much better prepared to DELIGHT CUSTOMERS!