Real Time Reviews via Mobile Devices – Are You Prepared?

Posted by Deborah Chaddock Brown on June 2, 2010 under Listening, Missed Moments, social media | Be the First to Comment

Just saw this link on a tweet The Biggest Shift Since the Industrial Revolution.

If your customer is between the ages of 18-35 – you need to learn to master the art of social media – or at the very least – be listening real close and often to what is being said. Of all of the stats in the article, here is the most valuable one:

“80% of Twitter users tweet using their mobile device.”  The author goes on to say “Imagine what that means for bad customer experiences?”

Eighty percent of what, you ask? Maybe it isn’t that many people.  Well, here’s another stat for you – “As of this year there are an average of 30 MILLION  tweets a day.”  And 75 MILLION users.  That’s a big chunk of your customers.

So how do you listen on Twitter?  Visit Search.Twitter.  Click on the Advanced Search button.  Enter your company name, your products, your industry key words and see what is being said.  You’ll see that you can subscribe to the feed for those key words and be notified the next time someone mentions your company or products. 

Take it a step further.  Scroll down the Advance Search page and click the sad face and/or the “?” and see  the negative reviews and questions being asked within Twitter.

You may not like it – but bottom line – social media, in some form or fashion, is here to stay and we need to jump in this afternoon and get connected.

For those of you in the NE Ohio region – I’ll be conducting a new series of hands-on workshops, once a week for four weeks on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Creating a Strategy starting next week.

Toyota Rebuilds Trust

Posted by Deborah Chaddock Brown on February 8, 2010 under Customer Moments, Resolving Conflict | Read the First Comment

Boy, Toyota has sure had a run of back luck recently.  Accelerators that stick and brakes that don’t work.  A bad combination.

So how are they handling the situation?

Check out the video commercial about how Toyota is focusing on customer cars FIRST.  “To restore your faith in our company.”

• They aren’t hiding from the issue
• No excuses are being made
• They outline what they are doing to fix the problem
• Every employee and dealer is involved
• Number One Goal – Restoring Trust

I applaud Toyota’s approach to a bad situation and feel confident that they will find a solution to the immediate problem and in the long run, they will continue the relationships with their customers and will probably gain new customers because of how they handle a crisis.

Do you have a crisis management plan for your organization?  With Real Time Reviews a number one trend for 2010, you need to be ready to respond to online comments and concerns from customers.  Jonathon Bernstein offers 10 suggestions for using SEO in a Crisis situation. Communication is key. 

Customer-focused communication, like Toyota is using in their ads is the best.