Download - kropseniorhigh.org · Web view2017/08/31 · Visit social media sites and determine if your business uses them. Here is a partial list to get you started: Facebook, Twitter, Google+,

AOHT Delivering Great Customer Service

Lesson 9Customer Service and Social

Media

Student Resources

Resource Description

Student Resource 9.1 Survey: Who Knows About…

Student Resource 9.2 Notes: Customer Service and Social Media

Student Resource 9.3 Reading: Customer Service and Social Media

Student Resource 9.4 Assignment: Social Media and Customer Service Research

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AOHT Delivering Great Customer ServiceLesson 9 Customer Service and Social Media

Student Resource 9.1

Survey: Who Knows About…Student Name: Date:

Directions: Interview your classmates to find people who fit the statements listed below. When you find someone who matches one of the statements, have that person put his or her initials in the appropriate box. You cannot have any student put his or her initials in more than two boxes on your sheet; your goal is to survey as many classmates as possible. See if you can get initials in all of the boxes.

I use Twitter. I have made a video call using Skype.

I use Facebook.

I use Instagram. I use Snapchat. I use Pinterest.

I have participated in online video group chats, web conferences, or Google Hangouts.

I have “liked” or “followed” companies on a social media site.

I use LinkedIn or another professional networking site.

I have received text messages from a business or nonprofit organization.

I have used an app on a smartphone to make travel arrangements, book restaurant reservations, or buy movie tickets.

I have read customer reviews for a business on a social media, city guide, or business review site.

I use an online group deal site like Living Social or Groupon.

I have decided to try a new product, service, or business because a friend posted or tweeted about it on social media.

I have received coupons, free gifts, or other “bonus” items because I interacted with a company through social media. (For example, got a coupon code from a company tweet or Facebook post.)

I use a mobile device (smartphone or tablet) to go on the Internet more often than I use a laptop or desktop computer.

I have made a customer service complaint on a social media site.

I have watched company or brand-specific video content (commercials, previews, interviews, etc.) on YouTube.




Notes: Customer Service and Social MediaStudent Name: Date:

Directions: Complete these notes as you view the presentation on Customer Service and Social Media. You can also use Student Resource 9.3, Reading: Customer Service and Social Media, for help. Before viewing or reading, take a guess at what each of these methods looks like in real life. An example has been provided. Then answer the question that follows the table.

How to Use Social Media

My Guess Notes and Examples

“Listen” to the conversation about your business

Respond to customer complaints

Pay attention if someone posts something bad about your company and try to respond to them really quickly and fix the problem.

Offer the customer something more of value



How to Use Social Media

My Guess Notes and Examples

Be proactive and handle problems

Create a relationship and build customer loyalty

What is CRM (customer relationship management)?




Reading: Customer Service and Social Media

You probably use social media all the time, but what does it have to do with customer service? And how can social media make a company’s customer service better? Today, you are going to find out.



Social media can seem like a tricky term to pin down until you realize that its parts perfectly describe the whole. It’s a form of media, because it’s a way that people communicate on a large scale. And it’s social because it is about people interacting—only virtually instead of in person.

Social media refers to any time people create or share ideas and information in a virtual community. It describes any website that allows you to interact with the website itself or with other visitors to the website.

You access social media by going online via your computer, tablet, or smartphone.



Some of the popular social media tools today include:

• Social networks such as Facebook, Google+, Twitter, or Pinterest. Facebook and Google+ are traditional social network services. Pinterest focuses on sharing images or ideas that are “pinned” to a digital “pinboard.” Twitter is a microblog site, so all posts (called “tweets”) are limited to 140 characters.

• Photo sharing apps such as Snapchat or Instagram

• Video sharing sites such as YouTube

• Voice and video communication technologies like Skype and Google+ Hangouts

• Sites or apps like Yelp, YP, and TripAdvisor, which are designed to provide information and reviews about specific businesses

• Sites or apps like Groupon, OpenTable, or LivingSocial, which are designed to help you make purchases or reservations, sometimes at a discounted price



There are many different social media tools and many different ways to use them. Here are some of the most common ways:

• Listen to customers.

• Respond to complaints.

• Offer the customer something more.

• Manage problems and be proactive.

• Build customer loyalty.

You can use almost any social media tool to accomplish each of these goals. Let’s look at the goals in more detail.



Today many people talk with their friends over social media. Employees need to pay attention to what is being said about the business online.

First of all, pay attention to what is being said to your business or about your business. Make sure your business has a presence on many of the most popular social networks and pay attention to how people respond. What do they post on your company Facebook page? How do they react to the new video you posted to the company YouTube channel?

You can also search for discussions that involve your business. You can search for company mentions. You can also use hashtags, or key words listed after a #. Hashtags are a way people identify specific topics they are discussing. Above, you can see the Twitter handle for a café, as well as three hashtags the café might search for if it wants to promote its lunch menu.

You might be surprised by what you learn from listening online. One major restaurant chain learned that their signature cocktail was being made differently at two different locations. A customer commented online that he loved the drink made at the Atlantic City location, but didn’t like the same drink at the Philadelphia restaurant. The chain was able to figure out what the problem was and fix it!

It can be hard to keep track of every time your business is mentioned. Some businesses use social media dashboards that help you identify the important posts. Other companies create whole departments to handle social media.



According to industry experts, the best way to handle a negative review or negative online post is to:

• Thank the commenter.

• Apologize.

• Explain what you did/what you are doing to address the problem.

• Try not to sound defensive.

Some things can’t be fixed over social media. You can’t talk about personal information like credit card numbers in a public forum. If it’s a bigger issue, shift to another form of communication like the phone or email. However, make sure you don’t pass the buck. Have the customer call you directly. If that’s not possible, make sure you tell the customer who they will be talking to and fill in your colleague on what the problem is. Then follow up later to make sure the problem is resolved.

It can be tempting to try to hide your company’s mistakes or to take every conversation off line to avoid other people hearing what you did wrong. But don’t do that. By discussing mistakes, apologizing for them, and explaining how you fixed them in public, you are increasing the public’s sense that you do business in an open and transparent way. That increases customers’ goodwill toward you. Customers don’t expect you to be perfect, but they do expect you to be honest.



Customers are asking more questions of businesses via social media. Between 2012 and 2013, there was a 56% increase in the number of customers asking questions on Facebook.

In spite of customers’ expectations, many companies are not responding quickly. On average, it took businesses 24 hours to respond on Facebook and almost 12 hours to respond on Twitter.

Set a company policy about how quickly you will respond. This can be difficult, since customers expect responses outside of normal business hours. Some hospitality companies outsource this work altogether, giving it to social media consulting firms that manage all the company’s social media presence and respond to complaints.

Source: http:// www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/social-media-customer-service-stats_b54479


http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/social-media-customer-service-stats_b54479

http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/social-media-customer-service-stats_b54479


Social media can be a great way to reach out to customers. Something as simple as “Enjoy your stay at our hotel!” or “So glad to hear you liked our dessert!” helps a customer feel appreciated and listened to. Marriott posts local and hotel events on their Facebook page. Hilton and Hyatt hotels offer a “virtual concierge” service on Twitter. Some coffee bars now take to-go orders via Twitter, and some restaurants will reserve restaurant tables.

Offer special deals if customers “like” you on Facebook or retweet your daily menu special. If someone posts or tweets a very favorable review of your establishment, consider sending a thank you gift, like a code for a free dessert on their next visit. But limit how often you do that, or you’ll be giving food away.

Also think about the information you can share with your customers. Maybe your restaurant chef makes the best guacamole in town. Why not post a video showing how to make it before the next big game? Or maybe your hotel’s event coordinator can create a Pinterest board with suggestions for centerpieces for weddings and big events, featuring photos of events held at your hotel.

This ties into the Platinum Rule. Remember: the goal is to exceed the customer’s expectations. If a customer visits your restaurant’s Facebook page, they might be expecting to see what hours you’re open. If they get a coupon for a free cup of coffee or learn how to make a great new appetizer, you have exceeded expectations!



No matter how great your customer service, things will go wrong. Plumbing breaks, power goes out, traffic jams occur, an ingredient in your signature dish suddenly goes out of stock.

The first thing to do: be honest. Explain what happened and how you are trying to fix it. If it’s a major problem (for example, there’s no water at the restaurant, so you can’t cook anything or use the bathrooms), make an announcement via social media. Keep them updated. Try not to get defensive.

Sometimes it’s a smaller problem that only affects a few customers. Then you don’t need to announce it to the whole world, but you do need to be truthful with those customers and work to resolve the issue.

Responding quickly to make the problem right is the most important thing. Don’t wait until the problem is a big deal. If a customer contacts you directly to complain, it’s now a big deal. You will be judged based on how you respond.

In one case, British Airways lost a passenger’s luggage and wasn’t helping him get it back. He got so angry he paid to have his complaint tweet prominently displayed on Twitter. It worked for him—he got an apology and his luggage—but it wasn’t good for British Airways!

When someone has an issue, send an @mention or reply asking how you can help. Be proactive and try to catch the problem before it’s a big deal.



Find a way to be part of your customers’ everyday lives. Post the daily specials for your restaurant. As a special event or holiday approaches, send tweets encouraging people to set up a romantic getaway at your hotel. Posting a holiday greeting is simple, but a good way to remind people that your business is celebrating the holiday, too.

Make it fun. Hold a contest to name the latest dish on your menu. The prize? A free t-shirt with the restaurant’s name. Or invite people to share their photos of sunset from your hotel balcony, with the winning photos to be featured in a new ad for the hotel. People will keep talking about your business even when they aren’t eating or staying there.

Be real. People appreciate seeing the “true” face of a business on social media. Offer behind-the-scenes photos or videos of how your business is run. People are often curious about what a professional kitchen looks like, or how an airline actually handles your luggage. Just make sure whatever gets posted reflects well on your business!

You may be noticing that some of this sounds like customer service and some of it sounds like marketing. Remember that good customer service can be a form of marketing, and marketing people often want to promote a company’s good customer service.

Today, with the increasing use of technology, the line between customer service and marketing can be even blurrier.



The goal of CRM is to bring together all the information the company has about a customer in one place. That allows any employee working with the customer to give the customer the best possible service and to make good decisions about marketing products and services to that customer.

Picture this: you usually order pizza from Giorgio’s Pizza on West Street. But one day you’re on the other side of town and decide to pick up a pizza from Giorgio’s East Street location. When you call them and give them your phone number, the employee says, “I can see you usually order a large Supreme with extra cheese. Would you like the same thing again?” He knows your order, even though you don’t usually buy from that location. Then he says, “Have you ever tried our garlic bread? It tastes really good with the Supreme.” You go ahead and order the bread and a two liter bottle of soda, too. That’s an example of CRM. By giving employees at both locations information about you, the customer, they provided great customer service and increased their sales—and made it more likely that you will order from Giorgio’s next time!

How do they do that? Most businesses use CRM software, which is designed to gather information about customers. That way if a customer calls with a complaint, the customer service staff can respond effectively, and if a customer wants to buy something new, the sales staff know what other items the customer has purchased, and the marketing staff knows to send an email to the customer about the latest sale—because all the information is in the computer.



The casual tone of social media can be a great opportunity to make your company memorable. Imagine complaining about losing your watch in a hotel room and getting this response. “I’m so sorry. We’ve had real issues with that hotel room eating guests’ items. Let me follow up with our hungry hotel room team to see if they’ve located it.” Some companies encourage customer service employees to get creative with their responses. However, the informality also means your employees need training on how to adjust their response to please the customer.

Customer service isn’t only about complaints, and often people will share good thoughts about your company on social media. These are very valuable, because people trust a comment from a real customer more than they trust advertising. Make sure to thank people who share good things about your business on social media.

Remember that everyone can hear you. They will hear what you want them to hear (new dinner specials, just won an award for cleanest hotel) and the things you don’t want them to hear (customer complaints about noisy construction, photos of the dirty rental car).

Make sure you have clear policies about how your employees behave on social media when they are representing your business. People use social media for personal reasons, but when they are representing your business, you want to make sure they say and show the things you are comfortable sharing! With good policies in place, customer service on social media can make your business stand out.




Assignment: Social Media and Customer Service Research

Student Name:_______________________________________________________ Date:___________

Directions: You are going to analyze how a particular hospitality/tourism business uses social media for customer service. Before you begin, read through all of the instructions on this sheet, and read the assessment criteria at the end of the sheet to make sure you understand how your work will be assessed.

Step 1: Choose a business.You can choose any hospitality/tourism business that interests you. If you’re not sure where to begin, here are some to choose from:

Hilton Hotels

Virgin Air (or Virgin America)

Chipotle Mexican Grill

Ritz Carlton Hotels

Southwest Airlines

Panda Express

Four Seasons Hotels

JetBlue

Panera Bread

Marriott Hotels

KLM Airlines

Five Guys Burgers and Fries

AirAsia

Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches

Wing Stop

Seamless.com (food ordering service)

Starbucks

If you want to do a local business, check with your teacher first.

Step 2: Find information about your businessNow that you have selected a business, investigate how that business does (or does not) use social media as part of its customer service. Here are some ways to do that:

Visit the company’s website to see if they have any information on their social media strategy or policies.



While on the company website, look to see if they have any links to social media sites (Visit our YouTube channel!) or if they use the icons (symbols) for various social media sites (for example, many sites show the icons for Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc., if you can share pictures or content from the site on those social media networks).

Do a search for [company name] + social media (for example, “Hilton social media”) or [company name] + social media customer service (for example, “Virgin Air social media customer service”). You may find articles from websites, magazines, or newspapers about your company’s social media policy. Just remember to check the date on the article. You want to use recent information (less than two years old). Your teacher can help you determine if an article is too old to be reliable.

Visit social media sites and determine if your business uses them. Here is a partial list to get you started: Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Instagram, Pinterest, Foursquare, YouTube, Yelp, YP, TripAdvisor, Groupon, OpenTable, LivingSocial.

It may be easier to find some of this information if you already have an account on a particular social media site. However, you can still find plenty of information about a company’s social media policies without logging into Facebook, Twitter, and so forth. If you are concerned about how to find information without accessing social media sites, talk to your teacher.

Keep in mind that you are looking for information about how the company uses social media for customer service. Don’t get sidetracked by fun advertising videos or games.

Here is an example of the type of information you should look for.

Business Name Yummy’s Frozen Yogurt Food Truck

Social Media Tool #1 Twitter

How you learned about it They have the Twitter logo on their website, so I looked for their Twitter feed (@yummyogurt).

How the business uses it When I viewed their Twitter feed, I noticed that they reach out to customers a lot. They tweet about where the food truck will be parked at various times of day, and during those really hot days last month they offered special coupon codes via Twitter. It also looks like they’ve held contests on Twitter to get ideas for new toppings to offer.



Step 3: Complete the chartUse the chart below to help you keep track of what you learned about your business. Look for information about how your business uses at least two different social media tools for customer service. If you can’t find very much information about a specific tool, then look at a wider variety of tools. In other words, if you check Facebook and Twitter and your business doesn’t do anything on those sites, you need to look at other sites, like Pinterest, Google+, and YouTube, before coming to any conclusions about your company’s social media policies.

Prompt Your Response

Business Name

Social Media Tool #1

How you learned about it

How the business uses it

Social Media Tool #2



Social Media Tool #3 (optional, unless you can’t find much information)





Prompt Your Response







Based on your research, how well does this business follow best practices for social media customer service? Support your opinion with examples.



Make sure your assignment meets or exceeds the following assessment criteria: The chart demonstrates a thorough investigation into how the company uses social media for

customer service.

The chart describes at least two specific ways a customer can interact with the company via social media.

The chart includes a thoughtful explanation of whether or not the company is following best practices in the area of social media customer service.

The completed assignment is neat and uses proper spelling and grammar.
