Presentation to South Shore Chamber of Commerce (Mass.) as part of “Building a Culture of Customer Service, from Training to Tweeting” program in March 2011.

1. The Collision of Social Media and Customer Service Public Relations Communications Messaging Publics

2. Collision of Social Media and Customer Service CNN

3. The Collision of Social Media and Customer Service

4. The Collision of Social Media and Customer Service Kirk Hazlett, APR, Fellow PRSA Associate Professor of Communication Director, Public Relations Society of America (617) 979-3526 / khazlett0104@curry.edu Twitter: @kirkhazlett / LinkedIn: kirkhazlett / Facebook: Kirk Hazlett Blog: kirkhazlett-aprofessorsthoughts.blogspot.com

5. Collision of Social Media and Customer Service How Does Communication Work? Sender Message Receiver

6. Collision of Social Media and Customer Service What is Public Relations? “Public relations helps an organization and its publics adapt mutually to each other. Public relations is an organization’s efforts to win the cooperation of groups of people.”

7. The Old Media World

8. The New/Social Media World Press Community Investors Employees MESSAGES Customers Competitors Prospects Partners Analysts

9. Collision of Social Media and Customer Service Social media is still catching on as a way for consumers to interact with a brand. Do you want to be ahead of the curve or playing catch-up??

10. Collision of Social Media and Customer Service 82% 64%

11. Collision of Social Media and Customer Service “Proactive” today means identifying the social media platforms visited by your current and potential customers and establishing your presence there.

12. Collision of Social Media and Customer Service “People are going to talk about your business whether you like it or not… about your service, your products, your quality, and your value. Larry Weber, “Sticks & Stones”

13. Collision of Social Media and Customer Service What do you do?!?

14. Collision of Social Media and Customer Service First, you must be willing to allocate resources to activities that engage, drive advocacy, and manage reputation.

15. Collision of Social Media and Customer Service Then, You respond. Quickly…Candidly…Openly.

16. Collision of Social Media and Customer Service BUT…

17. Collision of Social Media and Customer Service …and a BIG, HUGE, BUT…

18. Collision of Social Media and Customer Service If you’ve delegated the duties to someone else and you’re not totally in the loop when it comes to customer service and response…

19. Collision of Social Media and Customer Service …Be sure that everyone involved in the process knows…and can communicate… your thoughts and beliefs.

20. Collision of Social Media and Customer Service Online customer service is no different than face-to-face customer service. The customer asks a question, makes an observation, or offers a suggestion.

21. Collision of Social Media and Customer Service And…

22. Collision of Social Media and Customer Service

23. Collision of Social Media and Customer Service “The unhappy customer is more likely to vent online than is the happy customer.”

24. Collision of Social Media and Customer Service Why worry? What’s the big deal??

25. Collision of Social Media and Customer Service According to findings from the Edelman Trust Barometer, more and more people are inclined to trust a stranger’s opinion over an expert’s opinion…and certainly over a company executive’s opinion.

27. Collision of Social Media and Customer Service In the simplest terms, you HAVE to provide a way for your customers and others to leave their thoughts, wishes, complaints, expressions of satisfaction…whatever they feel like communicating…on your site.

28. Collision of Social Media and Customer Service So how do you stay ahead of the growing trend of turning to third-party sources to learn about your product or service before turning to your information?

29. Collision of Social Media and Customer Service

30. Collision of Social Media and Customer Service Any executives who don't think they need a customer service presence on social media need only to recall the experience of United Airlines in the wake of the YouTube video "United Breaks Guitars."

32. As of February 2011, the video has had more than 10 million views…10 million current and potential customers!