Does Your Online Marketing Strategy Include A Customer Service Component?

As I continue my journey into the world of Social Media, I remain flabbergasted as to the lack of customer interaction by many businesses and organizations on their Facebook pages..  I touched on this topic in a previous post (How NOT to Engage Your Customer via Social Media 6/6/12); however, 9 months later and not much has changed.

The drive to increase customer engagement on social media sites is not new and definitely not likely to diminish anytime soon. Businesses, Nonprofits and; even, Government entities have jumped on the social media bandwagon to build their client/fan base and drive up sales, name recognition or simply to get their message out there.  All noble and worthwhile reasons for which I can find no fault.   

As more consumers enter their comments on various social media sites (both positive and negative), there continues to be a disconnect regarding follow up by quite a few page administrators. However, we all know that the larger your client/fan base the more likely you will receive complaints along with compliments.  No organization is perfect.  There is always going to be something the consumer is not going to be happy with - whether it be pricing, product quality, message content, etc..    

Page administrators continue to ignore or delete negative commentary. These comments are the ones which should be embraced.  Turning a negative into a positive is skill of an experience customer service professional which has been forgotten in the social media arena.  The simple act of ignoring a negative post is tantamount to corporate suicide.  It needs to be addressed head on in a positive and forthright manner.

Engaging and interacting with your base in a positive and forthright way is the only way to go to be successful.  Copying and pasting the same "canned" corporate approved response to each and every complaint and comment posted to your Facebook page, website or corporate blog does not qualify as sincere customer engagement. It only serves to add credence to the original complaint due to their lack of sincerity and originality.

This is where all the current education in social media marketing is lacking.  The marketing skills are taught and put into practice.  However, social media are created the need to merge good old fashion customer service skills with those of a talented marketer.

Those of us who have been involved in the customer service sector have come to understand that they are the face and voice of the company or organization they represent.  There is a solution to every problem and can be tweaked to satisfy both the customer and the company.  However, social media engagement has brought those one on one phone calls or emails out into the public arena.  Are these organizations afraid to admit there are flaws in their business model for the entire Internet world to see?  They shouldn't be.  By addressing the concerns head on, they are acknowledging that it puts its customers first and is not afraid of criticism.  These are the companies that will survive in this tenuous economic climate.

I learned from the old school where personal interaction always took precedence.  Many of those same tried and true techniques are easily transferable to the social media environment.  Administrators of these various sites are not be skilled in these time honored customer engagement methods or maybe they have not come to the realization that a perfect blend of customer service, marketing and public relations skills are necessary.  

I continue to have this fear that organizations that continue on this track of non-engagement will eventually end up with no online client/fan base to engage with.  What are your thoughts on this?  Have you seen a shift to a more customer service oriented online marketing strategy in your organization?