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Employees telling the truth in social media, episode 1
Interesting couple of situations with employees engaging directly with customers. In both cases the employee is perhaps acknowledging the employer's shortcoming - but in the process creating a good customer experience. In each case, a difficult truth is the springboard into good experience. The employer's response is telling.
1. A Bank of America employee describes how she shows mercy to credit card customers who can't pay the many extra fees... and she gets fired. From The Daily Show:
2. Oracle employee Chris Warticki posts on Twitter "So, what to do if you're the 'online customer presence' and your own leadership wants to censor your posts and comments?", resulting in his Oracle support blog being terminated. More info here.
What's the role of a social media representative - to repeat the press releases on Twitter? Or to engage with customers who have unpleasant feedback to share? Something in the middle?
I don't think one answer suits all companies - every culture is different - but I have to imagine that any company employing an "online customer presence," using social media, should be ready to accommodate and engage negative feedback - even from the social media rep.
This is why I can't bear to work for large corporate organizations.
Social media offers the promise of transparency and honesty, but if the underlying structure doesn't allow for it, the new media won't transmit what isn't there.
Business needs to begin with transparency and authenticity, with structures that can actually integrate feedback and people who care enough to do so.
I have done (for over a decade) and continue to do this role in user forums, and the one thing I've learned is to shut up.
I've never lost my job over it, but I've been accused by fellow employees of leaking patentable information (which was inferrable from progress status messages), I've been written up for violating NDAs for speaking of events from almost a decade prior (yes, I should not have done so... I guess), and I've had customers demand my manager's contact info because I told them (or didn't tell them) stuff they didn't want to hear. (No, I didn't give them that info.)
Second and third guessing what I say has become SOP. If telling the truth would make anyone with power unhappy, I end up ignoring or pushing aside the customer complaint.
:(
Simply :(
Duff,
It's not just large corporate organizations that can't handle social media's new requirements for openness. I have known several small and mid-sized businesses whose founders were unwilling to give up enough control to their employees. Each type of organization has its own challenges.
Most company executives are not interested in delivering a good experience, they are interested in their own aggrandizement and pocketbooks. Any hint of shortcomings must be immediately squashed!