Ask not what your customers can do for you…

I just came across this ‘ten commandments of customer service’ link and, since one of the most immediate applications of social media is in just this field, it’s natural that they could almost all be applied directly to form a very similar list for how to ‘do’ social media.

They read:

1.    Know who is boss

2.    Be a good listener

3.    Identify and anticipate needs

4.    Make customers feel important and appreciated

5.    Help customers understand your systems

6.    Appreciate the power of “Yes”

7.    Know how to apologize [sic]

8.    Give more than expected

9.    Get regular feedback

10.  Treat employees well 

For more on why they’re important, read the full article, but, even on the surface, it’s not hard to see how most of these can be ploughed directly into fast advice for how brands should think when seeking to engage in social media. For example, iCrossing’s basic model (understand your networks, be live in your networks, be useful to your networks), is much simpler but outlines exactly the same approach and applies whether you’re after direct sales or something softer. 

Lately, I’ve been helping a friend in the process of launching a new online business. Running a blog is part of the advice (to gain credibility, search presence and build brand personality being just some of the justifications) and, in seeking help on how to approach style and tone on said blog, the friend outlined his objectives for the first posts he planned to write. Each dealt chiefly with what his blog readers could do for his business – use the service, recommend it to friends etc. – an approach not uncommon in advertisers who, like all of us, zone in on ‘what’s in it for us?’

But, my response was simple: ‘ask not what your readers can do for you…’. The point of the blog was to fill some holes in the credibility of the service that is crucial to its success. Its role was to help sales by not selling. That’s not the only role that social media can fulfil for a brand, but it’s certainly one of them.

In any business, we soon become so embroiled in its running that the customers become just part of the equation – and often not the most upweighted part. Digital media – and social spaces in particular – are at the root of a shift that means such forgetfulness really is no longer an option.