Getting Intimate (with Customers) on Twitter

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Cozy with Customers

No wonder all sorts of businesses are using Twitter to get cozy with customers.

Comcast (CMCSA), a company whose customer satisfaction ranking has been historically in the toilet, authorized Frank Eliason, a customer service operative, to create @ComcastCares. Eliason, whose passion for quality service comes through to observers, has posted nearly 13,000 public and private "Tweets," all directed at solving customer problems, since May.

Skeptics voice suspicion, saying ComcastCares is more PR than authentic customer service. They note there are a mere 2,700 Eliason followers while Comcast serves 24 million U.S. households—poorly, in the minds of many.

Relationships Are Real

Still, ComcastCares has favorably moved the perception needle. Francine Hardaway, an angel investor for Stealthmode Partners, gushes about how Eliason spent hours on Twitter and the phone until a complex reception problem was resolved. Says Hardaway, "Frank is now a friend." Interesting concept, since the two have never met.

Hardaway drives home a point. Twitter works about the same way your local neighborhood works. You meet a neighbor and you chat about local places to eat and the weather. Twitter, which I have come to call "Twitterville," is like that. The place may be virtual, but the relationships formed there are very real.

H&R Block (HRB) already had intimacy with its customer base. The problem was that Block and its customers were growing old together. Younger taxpayers had an image of H&R Block belonging in a strip mall where people in white shirts helped people in white hair.

Learning to Listen

Twitter was among several Block social media initiatives that have significantly increased the company's online presence and fueled a marked upsurge in young customers. But first, the company had to learn about Twitterville intimacy.

Amy Worley, who manages Block's Twitter program, had to alter her approach. "I went in thinking Twitter was a free way to push our message out," she says. "Big mistake. We learned to listen. We started winning once we let people decide on their own about our services."

Large companies are historically slow to adopt new technologies. It seems to be happening faster with Twitter. The parade of U.S. companies includes Seagate Technologies (STX), Southwest Airlines (LUV), Whole Foods (WFMI), and Zappos.com, a Kentucky-based clothing e-tailer.

Making the Transition

As successful as the Comcast and H&R Block efforts have been, Twitter draws more independent consultants than big company players. Laura Fitton, who operates her Pistachio Consulting firm from her home office, illustrates why. In a year's time she has made the transition from homebound mom to international consultant. "All my work now comes from people I know through Twitter. All of it," she reports. Fitton is followed by more than 5,000 people.

Like Guerrero, many professionals consider Twitter pretty much worthless on first look. But those who stay for about a month start understanding the value. I didn't think much of Twitter for 60 days, until my casual mention that I was in Boston landed me a dinner with a nearby friend who saw my post. Since then, I have been invited to speaking engagements in five countries and even get to write a guest column for a prestigious old media publication.

A few years ago, corporations tried to speak with one voice. They were always speaking. They didn't understand how so many of us became frustrated that no one in large organizations wanted to listen.

The Secret's Out

In fact, until social media came along it was not economically feasible to listen to a global base of customers. Blogging began to fix that. But it remained pretty much a dynamic of, "I talk. I pick the topics, and a few of you can respond."

Twitter is more like how people find themselves in real life. Sometimes I talk. Sometimes, when you feel like it, you talk. If we like what each other has to say, then our conversations may go to a deeper level. It's the same thing that's been happening on golf courses for many decades.

Twitter has become a source of inside information. It's where small talk can lead to valuable relationships, where potential customers tell you how to build better products and services.

But maybe I shouldn't tell you all this. If all you BusinessWeek readers go running over to Twitter all at once, the damned thing will probably go down again, and we Twitterville old-timers just hate it when that happens.

Do you think Twitter might be useful for you in your business? How so? I'd like to know.

Israel writes and speaks about social media. He is co-author of Naked Conversations: How Blogs Are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers. Read him here. Unlike Twitter his site rarely goes down.

Business Exchange related topics:
Twitter
Micro-Blogging
Social Media Business Success

Israel writes and speaks about social media. He is co-author of Naked Conversations: How Blogs Are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers. Read him here. Unlike Twitter his site rarely goes down.