Social Media - The Success Story of Tesco

Talk about social customer service and social engagement, we can not talk about Tesco. Because in both cases, a team of social media and customer service Tesco is one of the best in the retail industry. With the customer's data center is large enough, the retailer is offering a personal and local service.

Achievement won by Tesco's not magic. It takes foresight to understand the nature of social media and customer. There are some key things that we can learn from the success of Tesco in managing their social media, among others:

Determine expectations

When it comes to social media, customers can have such great expectations. For example, getting a response as soon as they complain. And we know social media is media that live for 24 hours. Are you able to meet these expectations?
If it can not, you must proactively inform what can be expected by the customer. For example, by informing "hours of service" social customer service through a timeline of your Facebook or Twitter profile companies. This is done proactively by Tesco. They inform each day "hours of service" them.

Do not move media

It's important for retailers to try and defend an issue is in the same channel. For example, there are customers who ask something or specific complaints through social media, the responsibility and resolve the issue through the same medium. Do not settle through other media.
This is what the customer wants and that's why they turned to Twitter and Facebook. Switching channels not only make customers annoyed, but it also makes it difficult for the customer service staff.

Immediate response to customer

Immediately respond to the customer asking for help is the most important factor in customer service. It is certainly beneficial when it comes to customers. They can quickly obtain detailed information. Tesco understands this well. they put customer service staff who have complete knowledge about the products and services of the company, so they can quickly respond to customer needs.

Emotional Engagement

In a social platform, delivering a friendly and warm is the key to success. Tesco knows this, that's why they mobilize their customer service to be more than just a route to resolution. Their team combines effective customer support by delivering a friendly and supportive message.
It is important for the team to know when to add the spice of humor when dealing with customers. However, they also have to know when to act serious. The balance between the two will give added value to every tweet or comment on a social media company.

Building Bridges

The biggest advantage is given to the company's social media is likely to change a negative into a positive. Angry customers can not necessarily be appeased, but with social media you can create a great public recommendations. It is far more valuable than anything you can create. Social media can really transform a number of critics to be the leading supporter.

Tesco virtual store in South Korea, a new shopping experience

Mystery vs History, A Story of Online Identity

I don't know if anyone here watches How I Met Your Mother, but there's one particular episode that brought up an interesting topic, online identity. The episode is called Mystery Vs History, it's the sixth episode of the seven season from the TV series. In this episode, Ted was having a date with a girl he just met and was blown away when he checked out her profile online.

Online Identity on HIMYM

Online Identity is a social identity that we establish in online communities and websites. Now in this day and age, it's possible for a stranger to check out on our history, accomplishment and profile online if we have one. So, why do people really choose online identities? There's an old saying "on the internet, no one knows you're a dog" statement which says that the internet is unstable and everyone can pretend to be anyone.

Those days are over?

At the moment however, the days where people were allowed to be dogs appears to be coming to a close, as the internet market is more mature. Major social networking websites are keen for users to use their real identity and more people only willing to have online interactions supported by authentic identity. Furthermore, the increasing advantage of having a legit online identity also encourage people to use their real profile. Some of the advantages are:

Reputation
Developing a strong online identity confirms your credibility, once people you work with knows you are credible they put their trust on you . This benefits both your online and offline reputation

Expansion
A strong online identity lays the foundation for you to grow your network connections, once your name is a ll over the internet (for a good reason) it's easier for you to expand your reach

Job Opportunities
The arrival of LinkedIn  increase the importance of your online identity credibility, by April 2012 71% of college graduates in the USA found work through LinkedIn, showing just how effective and persuasive social media can be.

LinkedIn has changed how people develop their online identity

Yes, having an online identity still have it's critics, but so far it looks promising and there are more advantages that we can discuss. You can't access all these opportunities by being a dog, only when you are legit and credible then people will start to take you for their consideration.

So what do you guys think, is having an online identity important? Does anyone have any experience on how your online identity helps you?
For people who hired a person to work before, do you prefer a person with an online profile so you can check them before hand, or the traditional background check during the interview? thus, do you prefer Mystery or History?

Social Media, Can You Live Without it?

"We don't have a choice on whether we DO social media, 

the question is how well we DO it." - Erik Qualman

That quote from by Erik Qualman from our first social media marketing class caught my intention. The rise of social media is phenomenal, but how important it is actually, do we actually need social media as part of our daily life? or people voluntarily jump to the social media bandwagon just because everyone else is doing it? 

For the past couple of years we cannot deny the humongous growth of social media and it has definitely made a big impact in our way of communicating. Exchanging information has become faster and more effective. Social media can be accessed anywhere, from your house, office and even on the go through your mobile, tablets, etc, by now you might see its existence in your life. 

Whether you're using social media for personal or business purposes, social media has become somewhat essential, i have seen small businesses and large multinationals use social media to promote their products or create online campaigns, even the London Olympics is taking part. 

we can connect directly with the athletes, pretty cool huh?

From my personal point of view social media is an increasingly important tool and i joined not only because everybody is doing it, but also to keep up with today's world. I use social media not just for keeping in touch with old friends anymore, but also catching up with today's news, events, updates from my country's economical status, my favorite football club, you name it they have it. And what i love with social media is that the news come to me, i dont have to search for them. It's great for a person like me who doesn't travel much to have so much access. 

Such the impact and importance of today's social media, the question now however is, is it possible to live with no social media action even for a day? how would your life be?

For myself, i am a bit of a social media addict, so i'm probably gonna be struggling, i might survive without twitter or Facebook but i can't let a day go by without opening Youtube. 

The offline social network, the world without web-based social media?

Feel free to comment 

And see you guys next Friday! 

The beginning of a new chapter

Bismillah, my journey towards Social Media Marketing