Social media is changing everything in trade. Even reserved Britons are losing their traditional aversion to making a scene, and using social media to complain about bad service provided by businesses.
Thats what a survey by the Institute of Customer Service suggests. They analysed data from 200 organisations, including banks, utility companies and retailers1 and have concluded that customers now expect dialogue, not monologue2 from companies.
If a shop assistant was rude and the price a rip-off, the unhappy customer - especially the young one - will take to microblog sites to slag3 off that company.
The trend has increased over the last few years. Thomas Brown, of the Chartered Institute of Marketing4, observed in an interview that big companies had previously5 enjoyed a controlled conversation with customers via advertising7 - and for a long time, unhappy customers could only express themselves through letters or calling a customer relations team. But with the internet, its a whole new ballgame: which company can control online chat?
Brown continues: Now theres a risk that you could have a groundswell of customers talking to each other and, from the brands perspective, it can get out of hand very quickly.
Brown warns that theres a concern by businesses about the time and resources it takes them to properly manage social media. Big organisations which arent monitoring it 24 hours a day could log off at the end of the trade day, only to log in the next morning to find that momentum8 has gathered behind a certain issue.
But its not all doom9 and gloom for businesses in this new era of intense connectivity. The old word of mouth recommendation has a new platform too. Perhaps its more true today than ever before: a satisfied customer is a companys best advert6.
