The Social Media Fire, Will It Change Corporate Culture?
Posted on : 11-07-2009 | By : Frank Eliason | In : Brands, Business, Customer Service, In the News, Marketing, Social Media, Technology
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This is the third attempt for me writing this post. This morning I woke up and read my email like I do every morning. One of the emails was a Google alert with a reference to this San Francisco Chronicle article about “Social Media Going Corporate.” In the article it stated the following:
At Comcast, employee Frank Eliason took the initiative last year to use his own Twitter account to contact customers who were tweeting about service problems. Now known as “Famous Frank,” Eliason has been credited with almost single-handedly turning around Comcast’s reputation. He heads a staff of 11 who monitor social networks and offer help to customers.
During a question-and-answer session at last month’s Web 2.0 conference, Comcast’s Roberts said the Twitter strategy has played a big part in changing the corporate culture “from inside the organization, not just the top down.”
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/11/07/BU341ACLD3.DTL#ixzz0WE9gWzSR
In my opinion the change in culture was due to so many people inside and outside the organization. Some of the people I work with I give huge credit to the change, including my team, Rich Roberts (my former boss, now VP of Customer Care in Atlanta), Tina Waters (SVP and my boss), Rick Germano (SVP of National Customer Service), Jenn Khoury, (VP, Corporate Communications), and D’Arcy Rudnay (SVP, Corporate Communications). But it was so many more than these individuals. Team members throughout the organization, from techs, Customer Service representatives, managers, directors, and VPs from all area contributed. Our Customers, who are very passionate about our products, and simply want a great experience to go with it. As Rick likes to say “They are cheering us on, because they want us to get it right.” In dealing with so many, I can say Rick is correct, they do love our products and they want the opportunity to cheer for us, we just need to make sure we deliver on that. This post is not about Comcast, but for those that do not know, I agree our culture has changed. I have been seeing first hand, including changes in reporting structure, new systems, the implementation of the Customer Guarantee and the overall attitude of the company has shifted to be about the Customer experience. In fact the new corporate credo is:
“We will deliver a superior experience to our Customers every day. Our products will be the best and we will offer the most Customer friendly and reliable service in the market”
I am sure some will say they have not experienced this fully yet, but I will tell you a lot is being done to ensure you do. You will be cheering! Internally the conversation is always about the Customer experience and how to make sure we get it right. I see a much different place than when I started 2 years ago. I do not believe it was due to me, but a lot of the discussions in various spaces that started to come together at the same time. Many of the discussions supported greater transparency, Customer focus, and an environment that questioned how things were being done. As this took shape, the culture of the company changed.
So I wrote this post numerous times I kept singing in my head the following lyrics:
We didn’t start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world’s been turning
We didn’t start the fire
No we didn’t light it
But we tried to fight it
Aren’t these words so fitting regarding social media and corporate America? Now I was not around when the phone joined the business world, but I can imagine someone saying they do not need a phone on their desk. Yet today, many of us carry our work phone wherever we are. I would imagine in the marketing space similar discussions happened with the transition from newspaper to radio to TV. I remember email coming out and much debate over providing email access to all employees. Today, I have work email 24/7 on my iPhone. Even funnier was the reaction to using email for Customer Service. Today who would not think to email a company for service? Same was true regarding allowing employees having internet access on their desk. This was done, but then many site were blocked due to productivity. Of course I work on email at night and weekends, why would their be a problem if I updated Facebook at work? So lets allow the song to continue:
Telephone, radio’s playing, newspapers, TV’s talking,
email, googling, paying bills, Pandora playing
Facebook Mafia wars, Blog updates galore
Following more Twitter stars, I can’t take it anymore
We didn’t start the fire
But when we are gone
Will it still burn on, and on, and on, and on…
Social media is about relationships, and ultimately relationships are good for businesses and employees. Will social media change corporate culture? Well have other forms of communication? I believe phone, email and the internet have already changed the culture for everyone, especially businesses. With each new form of communication we gain efficiency and we find new ways to speak with Customers. Can you imagine someone typing and copying memos? Ugh, I would hate that. For those that say Twitter and Facebook take away from the efficiency of the workers, the same was said about email and internet access. I bet it was also said about phone too (oh no, a family member better not call). Social media has made the world a smaller place (there are numerous examples of this) and I know it can make the business world smaller too.
Whereas I agree that companies can benefit from using social media outlets such as Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, etc…. my one concern is WHO in the company should be the one (or ones) doing the posting to these social media sites on behalf of the company?
EG: Your company has what, 20,000 people work there? Your company’s firewall probably blocks say, Facebook, but it can be set to allow access to facebook for those authorized to be posting on behalf of the company.
Its one thing to use these pre-existing social media sites to help your company’s image and get feedback etc…. but to allow everyone who works there to post on their personal Facebook, Myspace, Twitter etc.. about their personal life while they are on the clock… thats where the Big Brother in the company has to step in.
I twitted you about this earlier. I fully acknowledge social websites as being useful for companies to use, but who uses them during business hours per say and who at the company has the authority to speak for the company.. that is what companies need to focus on…. in other words.. a social media PR group
Jeff, No one in the company “owns” social media in my opinion. That is like saying one dept. owns TV or radio. Social media is a channel that should be used with care throughout the organization. Just my thoughts. If we all continue to argue about where social media lies in a company, nothing is being down to engage customers.
Frank hits so many important points in this post. Social Media is a new communication channel. Similar to when phones and Email first became channels, this is forcing companies to revisit policies and procedures for interacting with companies. Some companies have already changed, some are starting to change and some are resisting the change. The primary difference I see with Social Media vs the other communication channels is the public and viral nature of the customer comments. In the past, the voice of the customer was only heard by the company. Now, with Social Media, a customer can publicly comment and cause a group of their followers or friends or the media to join in. When this happens companies are reacting with much swifter and larger actions than they would through phone and email customer service channels. I see this balancing out as companies put response times in place and develop processes for identifying “high risk for viral” vs “low risk for viral” posts. These are all good things and will make a more consumer friendly environment while having the strongest companies differentiate themselves through customer service, product quality, price, etc.
I agree with Mark. I handle social media for our company and actually got the job by proposing it to my former employer. While they were hesitant years ago they are now 100% on board. The company does block social sites for everyone but it’s changing. Many corporations are overly worried about employees using social networks on THEIR time. I’ve been in Customer Service and Marketing for over 10 years and the corporations that had relaxed internet policies had happier and MORE productive employees. They are not going to spend all day online goofing off. But as responsible adults and employees they may log on for a 10 min break and return to their work MORE productive. As long as one gets their job done and follows corporate internet policies I am a firm believer they should not be banned from these sites. The exposure for your company increases for each and every employee online and mentioning your company. Happier, more productive employees, that are networking and increasing your exposure should outweigh the fact they are online on company time. Try it for a short time and see what happens.
The only question I have is how does one person (Frank) handle all the tweets? What happens when Frank goes on vacation? I understand there is a staff of 11. Where do they fit in?
Thank you for sharing! I think social media will change corporate culture — sort of. It’s just making us more aware of how we communicate, and forcing us to do it more quickly.
I agree with Mark, no one “owns” social media in a company. It’s everyone’s responsibility and because we’re forced to deal with transparency (which is a good thing), we have to be sure that everything that we communicate online, whether it be personal/”private”/business reflects the best interest of our organization and clients.
[...] The Social Media Fire, Will It Change Corporate Culture? This is the third attempt for me writing this post. This morning I woke up and read my email like I do every morning. One of the emails was a Google alert with a reference… [...]