We often talk to our clients about the importance of social media, but outside of increasing followers and “likes,” it’s sometimes difficult to see the benefit.
However, I learned first-hand the power of social media when I booked a room at the Hard Rock Hotel Chicago. Ten minutes after the room was booked, I “liked” the hotel on Facebook and found an even better deal for our stay. My husband quickly called the hotel, but was told the reservation could not be changed. So I went out on a limb and commented on the Facebook deal asking if it could be changed. I woke up the next morning to an email from the social media coordinator stating that she had seen my Facebook post and adjusted our rate accordingly. Awesome, I tweeted my thanks so that the hotels followers and mine could see and will likely recommend the hotel to family and friends.
Now I’m just one person with a very small following, but what happens when this type of customer service is granted to a person with a big following? Peter Shankman, consultant, investor, speaker, founder of the Help a Reporter Out (HARO) newsletter and social media expert, wrote a tweet just as he was taking off about how he longed for a Morton’s Steakhouse dinner. And you know what? There was a full meal waiting for him when he got off the plane. Shankman has 53,237 likes on Facebook and 129,826 followers on Twitter, quite an audience to share his amazing customer service experience with. And not only did he share the news, his followers did too!
I’m not saying you have to grant your followers’ every wish, but when a company puts in the time and energy to let their followers know they care, their followers will go the extra mile to let their groups, big and small, know how awesome the company is too. It might not always be easy to see the benefit, but one tweet, or Facebook post, can make all the difference in customer relationships.