Health brand marketers – are you integrating social media into your customer service?

This post refers back to Are You Really Satisfying Your Customers, written by Scott Monty, at his Social Media Marketing Blog. Scott is the head of social media for Ford Motor Company.

Scott’s point is that as it becomes harder for consumers to distinguish one company’s offerings from another, customer service is one (remaining) way to create greater value and gain competitive advantage. And social media channels, particularly Twitter, are well suited to help companies do this. He cites these three examples from Comcast, Best Buy and Zappos.

What do you think? Is the situation among health brands any different? What organizations are providing superior customer service experiences? And which are doing the best job of integrating social media into their efforts?

4 thoughts on “Health brand marketers – are you integrating social media into your customer service?”

This question, and the post it originated from, may be closer to hitting the nail on the head than anything I have read in a long time.

By way of agreement, I often speak about customer service (and the human element) being the ultimate level of value-add. In healthcare in particular there is the added benefit that in most cases people still have to interact to get care. There is no amazon to order a healthy body from, or travelocity to book an MRI without speaking to an agent – healthcare is one of the last places where you have to *go* and *see* someone. Its prime for the experience economy as Jim Gillmore puts it in a book with the same title.

As a direct answer, the social media program I help manage has customer service as its #1 goal. Where others cringe when someone posts about a less-than-perfect experience, I see a gold mine. It is a chance to listen empatheticaly, react appropriately and do the right thing. Its a no brainer too – customer service is easy when we ask ourselves what we would want and then do even more.

I’ll skip the shameless self-promotion because our program is still in its enfancy. But I will echo that customer service is our #1 goal- glad to hear someone else add emphasis! Thanks again for the great post.

Nick,

Sorry I haven’t responded sooner to you. Thanks for your thoughtful comments. Agree that the social media channel is well suited to enhancing customer service. As you say, it’s a no-brainer. What a great opportunity to listen, respond, surprise, satisfy and hopefully delight customers. And certainly in healthcare, where the tangibles tend to converge and look and sound alike, service (the experience) can be the great differentiator.

No worries about the “shameless self promotion.” Understand where you’re coming from.

Regards,
Eric