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Web 2.0 and customer service
Michele Ide-Smith
18 March 2010
Social – people sharing, discussing, commenting, forming networks
Media – ‘user generated’ content including text, photos, videos, slides, documents, maps…
What is social media?
It’s changing the rules
“the democratisation of information, transforming people from content
readers into publishers”Wikipedia
(Over 3 million English articles, 262 language versions)
Media preferences
Cambridge Evening
News 64,063
We’re All Neighbours
7,542Facebook
165,220
“People are having conversations about us, but
we are not part of those conversations.”
Listen, then engage
Listen to what people are sayingThen engage in the conversation
Monitoring tools
http://addictomatic.com/http://search.twitter.com/http://www.google.com/alertshttp://ww.socialmention.com/http://www.netvibes.com/http://www.technorati.com/
Why use social media?
Reach – go to where people areTargeted – specialist networksTimely – update as it happensTransparent – reduce complaints
Why use social media?
Democratic - empower communitiesCollaborative – build social capitalHuman – build trust / relationshipsCheap - low cost additional channel
4 practical approaches
1. External communications
2. Campaigns to change behaviour
3. Community engagement
4. Internal communications
External communications
Central library opening
Teaser videos on YouTube showing the new building and facilities
Facebook page to build interest and get customer feedback after opening
Twitter feed for latest news
What worked?
Great for promoting events and getting feedback afterwards
Opportunity for staff and users to post photos after events
Enables two-way communication - users express likes and dislikes of the service and library building design, staff respond
What worked?
Teaser videos kept customers interested despite the delayed opening
Also good for promoting events
Top tips
Respond quickly, politely and courteouslyHave two people to monitor/moderate in
case of absence (share login details)No email notifications from Facebook fan
pages so check regularlyGet to know the tools and only use tools
if appropriate (wall vs. discussions)
Lessons learnt
Responding quickly increases risk of going ‘off message’ – need to control in political situations
Need to ensure you have resources to manage the additional channels
Data protection issues – publishing photos or video of young people
Campaigns to change behaviour
2009 Elections
YouTube – Councillors explain what’s involved in being a Councillor, citizens talk about council services
Facebook page - to connect with votersTwitter feed - for ‘as it happens’ resultsText messaging
What worked?
Interviewed service users about personal stories - showed good customer service
Dual benefit from promoting the vote and council services (able to re-use videos)
Good visual explanation of services which are less well known
DIY approach, therefore cheap!
What worked?
Timely, useful, updates as the results came in – also integrated with website
Used to promote the video interviewsSingle message – know where your
polling station is, how to voteAble to respond to customer queries e.g.
where’s my nearest polling station?
Lessons learnt
Plan / timetable the campaign well – how do social media channels fit together?
Don't over do the updates – beware the annoyance factor of sending texts, tweeting too much etc.
Traditional posters, press releases and ads are not always the way forward
Lessons learnt
Have a good brief for any film crew you are using
Or source the people needed yourself and have a good plan
Have resources to answer questions and interact with customers – social media is two-way not broadcast!
Community engagement
Wisbech Digital Engagement
WordPress site for residents to report neighbourhood issues, suggest ideas and vote on police priorities
Partners/residents can blog, post videosUsing YouTube and social networking
e.g. Facebook to engage communities
Tips / Lessons learnt so far
Audit use of social media locally and remember to check for use of non-English social networking sites e.g. Gadu-Gadu
Find out what sites/tools residents like and dislike e.g. not keen on Twitter
Engage active social media users early on (councillors, press, residents)
Internal Communications
Chief Exec’s Blog
Blog based on Microsoft SharePointChief Exec updates remotely using
Microsoft Word and a Blackberry (mobile)Latest 6 blog posts are displayed on
intranet home page
Missing slides
2 screenshots removed
What works?
Most popular internal comms channelTransparencyInformal / personable styleStaff comments appear immediatelyDiversity of topics covered in the blogUpdated frequently – Mark adds multiple
posts per week, up to 6 posts per day!
Lessons learnt
Technology choice not ideal Not easy to update blog from a Blackberry –
can’t add images or format text Can’t embed video or sound clips
Staff learn to accept responsibility for their comments
Opportunities
How can we make the most of social media going forward?
What can we learn from best practise?
As practitioners we need
Case studies – social media offers a range of opportunities, but context and usefulness is key (IDeA KnowledgeHub)
Support - to embed the use of social media as a mainstream channel - policy, guidance, skills, resource
Willingness – to manage risks effectively, try things out, evaluate impact and learn
“The biggest risk is not to get involved.”
Euan Semple, social media writer, speaker and consultant
“The important questions aren’t about whether these tools will spread or reshape society but
rather how they do so.”Clay Shirky, author, Here Comes Everybody
Questions?
Photo credits
Lego People, Joe Shablotnik http://www.flickr.com/photos/joeshlabotnik/305410323/
Library Chairs, James Yardley http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?pid=30390601&op=1&o=global&view=global&subj=106156113195&id=1576013407
Polling Station, secretlondon123 http://www.flickr.com/photos/secretlondon/3598534263/
Stakeholder Workshop Post-Its, Paul Henderson Smile!, sean-b http://www.flickr.com/photos/sean-b/245744537/