Did you know that the average reach of one single Facebook (News - Alert) post for everyday users – meaning no celebrity or high-profile content posts – is about 30,000 people? This can be both good and bad news when it comes to building or destroying your call center reputation. A large part of running a successful call center is implementing software which can gather and organize customer insights, yet long gone are the days of traditional contact center software. Today, it seems what is really hindering or helping call centers everywhere is their social media presence and influence.
While the contact center software market continues to boom, it may be wise to take a few minutes to hear what major cloud analyst Bob Furniss first has to say about social media strategy and implementation in today’s contact center.
Could it be that social media has placed customers so high on the pedestal that they now have complete control of their call centers, rather than vice versa? It seems so, says Furniss, and this unbelievable level of autonomy can pose a hefty risk to your call center services.
“Social media has now put the customer in a place of control that he or she has never had before – and forward-thinking contact centers are either already engaged or are creating strategies for how they will play in this new customer channel,” he explains. “Through Twitter (News - Alert), Facebook, Pinterest, blogs and other social media channels, customers can now tell the world about their latest experience with your brand. As a customer, I no longer tell just nine people about a poor experience. Today it is multiplied at a rate that is somewhat unsettling.”
Social media can help promote a contact center software provider – or any business – for that matter. Take 8x8 (News - Alert), Inc. for example, who boasts almost 2,300 “likes” or followers and posts picture and status updates to keep customers fully engaged and satisfied. It can oftentimes leave customers living in a digital age feeling more responsive and satisfied than the most high-quality software can offer.
Just last week, 8x8 posted a picture with the caption, “We’re officially moved to our new building. Here’s Rowena [an employee] getting things organized in the front lobby!” 37 people “liked” the photo with comments including ‘8x8 is in the house!’ to a simple ‘Congratulations!’
Some of these expand to critical business transactions and questions, serving as a wonderful way to stay up to speed with customers’ inquires which require immediate attention. Take, for example, 8x8’s post from earlier this month:
You can see customer questions ranging from interviews to outage preparedness, all which 8x8 can promptly and accurately answers, leaving individuals feeling more like friends than customers.
So perhaps the golden ticket lies within the mind of your call center’s marketing team rather than the software you are using. “If you are a contact center leader, perhaps the most important impact of creating a social service center is the impact it will have on your career,” says Furniss. “For years the marketing department has come to the table asking for concise information about the customer. If you own Social, you will not have a new level of customer data. And your seat at the table will become much more relevant in the organization.”
Building a strong and professional social media presence could be the biggest critical step to achieving the unprecedented customer insight and satisfaction you need.
Don’t throw contact center software completely out the window. Using and integrating the proper software is still key to maintaining business continuity and promoting further growth. Click here to check out some reliable, simple yet powerful contact center software solutions from a company which was recently ranked the number one provider of hosted business VoIP and unified communications (UC) by Frost & Sullivan (News - Alert).
8x8 Inc. is a Platinum sponsor of ITEXPO West 2012. To be held Oct. 2-5 at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, TX, ITEXPO (News - Alert) offers an educational program to help corporate decision makers select the right IP-based voice, video, fax and unified communications solutions to improve their operations.
Edited by Jamie Epstein