Twitter Alone is Not a Social Media Support Channel

Far too many people tout Twitter as a wonderful support channel for products and services. Back in November of last year, Josh Cole wrote a great article about the embarrassing failures of “Talk To Qwest.” While I believe it’s a wonderful way for consumers to ask for support or assistance, I don’t think it’s the right channel to solve customer support issues.

So, how do you create the right portfolio of support channels and platforms to create a transparent and honest approach to solving consumer challenges in a rapid and scalable way without ignoring social media channels? Here’s our take on delivering a content-based online support system:

Delivering a comprehensive multi-channel support program that adds value.

At first glance, this may seem a little overwhelming, but the concept is simple: provide a series of channels and platforms designed to quickly and effectively solve problems.

Social media channels like Facebook or Twitter (and even old one-to-one channels like e-mail) provide your audience with easy access to your brand. When a call for support comes in through any of these channels, a support team member can point you to the best place to solve the problem. If the problem is a known issue with no resolution and an ongoing community dialogue, send them to GetSatisfaction (which we’ve written about  before). When the issue is solved on GetSatisfaction, you need a definitive resource to point to with the solution detailed for your audience. That’s where we’ve created The Living Manual.

The Living Manual

Breville's Living Manual

Every solution resolved on GetSatisfaction is added to a platform we call The Living Manual. You can see an example of one we’ve built for Breville. This is basically a flexible and innovative installation of WordPress that empowers the support team to define solutions to customer issues in an efficient manner without reading a long thread in a forum, or even the GetSatisfaction threads used to diagnose the issue and solve the problem.

Now, if a resolved issue arises on a social media channel, we can send a consumer to the exact, branded solution to the problem without having to send them through a series of hoops. Of course, if the Living Manual doesn’t have a solution to the issue, we guide users to start conversing with the support team at GetSatisfaction.

As solutions are found, Breville’s support team can come full circle to the origin of any request and broadcast to customers that a solution, new tip or even idea for better usage of their product can be found at their Living Manual.

Build a 360 degree approach

We believe this kind of open and honest approach to solving problems is more than just a smart way to use existing channels and platforms. This kind of approach builds a loyal set of prosumers and influencers dedicated to communicating with even the product design or innovation team. It’s a powerful and exciting new way to build great content inspired by consumers and designed to solve their problems effectively.