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From author Jeanette Joy Fisher
Please give me a minute to tell you a story…
We recently purchased a home pool heater so I can swim much needed laps. It gets cold in Southern California every night. No one wants to swim in a cold pool, especially me. After four plus years of tweeting my heart out, I need exercise. I love to swim and I am up to 50 laps from 10. Except, many days I can’t stand the cold.
The pool heater was put in in March. It worked ONE day. After many failed attempts to enter my complaint on the manufacturer’s website, I gave up and posted a complaint on Twitter. If the company would have followed me back, as I first requested nicely, I would have Direct Messaged them and no one would have seen the complaint. As it was, my friends immediately took up my cause. I even blogged about my family’s misery.
From Pete Bradshaw’s website http://www.tell3000.com featuring his book:
Satisfied Customers Tell Three Friends, Angry Customers Tell 3,000: Running a Business in Today’s Consumer-Driven World
“In today’s Internet-driven world, customers have more power than ever. Through what interactive marketing expert Pete Blackshaw calls “consumer-generated media”—blogs, social networking pages, message boards, product review sites—even a single disgruntled customer can broadcast his complaints to an audience of millions. ”
(I’d put an affiliate link here to Pete Bradshaw’s book, but Governor Jerry Brown caused Amazon to fire California based affiliates, which could really hurt many widows like me. So, here’s the direct link: http://amzn.to/poGiso)
It took until mid August for the manufacturer to replace the heater. It worked ONE day.
I’ll bet that with over 100,000 Twitter followers and staunch friends with even more followers, I can reach more than 3,000 people.
I prefer telling you how much I love @JetBlue, my Ford Mustang GT, my GMC truck, and about other companies who treat me right.
What is the biggest mistake businesses make on Twitter?
They believe they are better than their customers and want customers to be fans of their magnificent tweet stream where they post self-serving links.
Savvy companies know how to Tweet Me Nice. They…
- Follow back automatically so we can DM immediately
- Engage in conversations related to their products
- DM people who complain to take the problem out of the mainstream
- DM telephone contact or email address… not some form to fill in online that doesn’t work
- Monitor their Twitter accounts on weekends to head off problems like me who wanted to know how to turn on my pool heater on Saturday morning for a big Twitter party (2 times!) and family reunion with Facebook fanatics attending
I could have had many folks at my parties tweet about how badly I’ve been treated after spending precious money on a pool heater that neither the pool contractor or the manufacturer will get to work.
By the way, I have adult sons who are so smart they went to Harvard and Columbia who can’t turn the heater on. It’s not some whiney grandmother expecting special treatment.
If you run a business account on Twitter, tweet your customers, clients, and prospects with respect and they will tweet you right.
Joy to you~
Jeanette
P.S. What business Twitter tip do you want to share? Please comment below.
Link to this article: The #1 Business Twitter Mistake http://joypublications.com/?p=439
Nice points, Jeanette.
Hello Jeanette,
You are absolutely right, provided people know and understand the power or internet and relevant tools/ media available to shout out loudly and powerfully in dumb ears for taking appropriate actions for their product failures/ or customer complaints.
~jaideep
Great article! So true. I can’t believe they have ignored fixing the heater. wow …. Can you demand your money back? Then get it from another company?
I am particularly grateful for this post considering I am trying my utmost to get South African brands and companies to understand the power of their presence online. Although it is unfortunate that you had such trouble, it is also refreshing to know that SA is not as far behind as we all think. I am also reminded that those of us who are working on awareness of the power of social media are all in the same boat and can turn to each other. A great and very necessary post! Thank you!
You are so right! If a company is going to be on social media and they want to promote themselves AND they want to maintain customers in good standing then they should have a full time social media consultant to handle and represent them. They didn’t respond to your request and to be honest, I think I would have done the same thing as you. I actually had a similar situation on Twitter with a Christmas Gift and it was LONG after Christmas before my problem was settled. Word of mouth does travel fast and it’s a shame that they didn’t understand the power of twitter and your status with over 100K followers. Your post may be an educational tool for many other companies or businesses. Let’s hope so! What would be great for your situation is to have that company’s competitor step up to the plate and take care of it then praise them in a testimonial as well as on social media.
Jeanette,
This week has been cool, I feel cold even thinking about getting into the water without a heater or the sun. Sometimes I agree that getting a little exercise instead of more time on Twitter might help me too. Good luck resolving the issue.
By the way, your restraint is admiralbe.
So true, Jeanette. Companies who believe sitting back & tweeting links or product info is enough social media involvement have a lot to learn. Hoping you find resolution to your problem & the company you’re dealing with wakes up.