Interviewee One
Job Title: Customer Service Representative/Retail Operations Administrator
Company: Established and renowned Australian/New Zealand retail and fashion chain (with over 80 retail stores)
Following: 62,000+
Main role/s: - Customer Service in AUS and NZ
- Social Media (with Marketing)
- Store Communication
- Store Supplies
- Security Systems
Was maintaining and using social media included in your initial job description?
Our social media was traditionally administered exclusively by our Marketing department; as customers began to interact more and more with us via social media platforms, I was brought in to manage queries, compliments, complaints, etc. My customer service experience complements and supports the marketing aspect of our social media use. I had been with the company for 4 years and at head office (in a customer service role) for 1 when social media was added to my responsibilities.
Did you get given any on the job training or advice in regards to how to using social media platforms?
I started out in Customer Service and my role has evolved over the past 2-3 years. I received some basic outlines (regarding tone and form for communicating with our customers in the social media space) from our Marketing department when my responsibilities expanded, but no formalised training. I obviously entered the role with a firm understanding of the structure and functions of Facebook and Twitter.
What types of social media do you use?
Facebook is our main platform, though we also use Twitter.
Did you have any prior experience with using social media in a capacity such as you are now?
No - this is the first company for which I have been a social media administrator.
Do others in your office help with or contribute to the social media side of things?
Social media platforms are collaboration between our Retail Operations and Marketing departments (I sit with Retail Ops). Marketing is responsible for our Facebook status updates & Tweets, engaging customers and the general content on our pages - I handle the resulting queries and feedback from the customers that interact with us via social media. Both myself and the Marketing team have ‘Administrator’ rights - we consult each other where necessary.
How do you create an online fan base?
Marketing campaigns and our website/online store direct customers to Facebook, where we try to engage our customers as much as possible. Out status updates and uploads are designed to generate interest and begin a conversation with our customers. Timeline has also allowed us to showcase our entire history/past catalogues/milestones. By making social media a focus over the last year or so, we have seen our fan base grow exponentially.
Which social media platform have you found the most useful/successful and why?
Facebook is by far our biggest focus and most successful social media tool. Twitter is also a great tool for getting a message out to customers and some customers will use it as a platform to contact us.
How does dealing with customers in an online space differ from more traditional methods? Do people respond more positively or negatively in a public space?
Contact via social media is much more immediate than traditional methods of written communication; customers may be willing to wait a day or two for a response to an email, though will generally expect a much more timely response through social media.
The fact that Facebook & other forms of social media are so public also changes the game - not only do we have to assist our customers, though we have to be seen to be doing so efficiently and competently. Complaints via social media are always treated with care and can turn a very negative post into a very positive outcome for the company.
We have traditionally seen a very positive response to most of our status updates/social media campaigns - perhaps because it provides an easy/instant medium through which our customers can share their opinions. Generally speaking, I find that people will more often be motivated to share negative feedback than positive via more traditional methods of communication.
There is, of course, always a full gamete of responses and opinions; I have faced situations in which customers have defended our company following some negative feedback on Facebook, and others in which one customer's compliment has sparked a complaint from another.
How do you entice users to interact with your page(s)?
We post status updates designed to engage customers; range previews, promotional updates, competitions, store opening/refurb updates, visual mechandising previews, new services announcements, direct questions, etc. We aim for anything that will generate discussion with us and between our customers.
Have you created incentives or competitions via social media? If so, how successful have they been?
There are some fairly strict rules about what you can and can't do on Facebook, in terms of competitions, etc. Our Marketing team ensures that we work within those terms and have run competitions via Facebook in the past. These generated some of the greatest traffic for the Facebook page that we have seen and our fan base increased dramatically over these periods.
What do you aim to achieve through the use of social media?
Very simply, to grow our 'fan'/customer base and provide a further medium through which our customers can contact and interact with us.