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The “Focus on Customer Service” podcast features interviews of brands which are offering amazing customer service via social media. It is hosted by customer experience speaker and coach, Dan Gingiss. Lots of people are talking about content and marketing on social media, but this podcast will focus on the other side of social that many brands overlook – customer service. At first only the channel of last resort – when other service channels failed – social media is quickly becoming the chann ...
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Hello again, loyal FOCS listeners! I wanted to share the news of my brand-new book, The Experience Maker: How To Create Remarkable Experiences That Your Customers Can't Wait To Share. If you loved this podcast, then this book is for you! Listen to this special 3-minute episode for more details and the opportunity to get 3 free bonuses with your boo…
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After two years and more than 50 episodes, the first known podcast dedicated solely to customer service in social media is saying goodbye. The Focus on Customer Service Podcast officially ends its run today as a new podcast about customer experience is also launched.Sponsored from its inception by Social Media Today after its late founder, Robin Ca…
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Imagine you make a large purchase after working with a salesperson. Maybe it’s a new car or windows for the house. The salesperson makes lots of promises that the “account manager” or customer service representative can’t keep. Sound familiar?It did to Joey Coleman, a customer experience expert and keynote speaker who learned that in virtually ever…
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The Focus on Customer Service podcast celebrates its 50th episode with co-host Dan Moriarty returning to talk about his new role at the Chicago Bulls, and interviewing co-host Dan Gingiss about his new book, Winning at Social Customer Care: How Top Brands Create Engaging Experiences on Social Media (available on Amazon).…
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Although “marketing” is its name, the annual Social Media Marketing World conference in San Diego had much to say about social customer care. In addition to the official Customer Service track consisting of six sessions, many marketing speakers spoke about the importance of customer experience and customer service. Episode 49 of the Focus on Custom…
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Take a moment and think about the two or three very best companies in the world at customer service – the ones that are cited over and over again by speakers and authors as being truly unique. These are the companies where customer service is so engrained in the culture, that when social media burst onto the scene they immediately seized the opport…
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eBay, the online marketplace, is in a unique position: It sells billions of dollars of merchandise each year, but none of it is their own. So when customers reach out on social media, they are either buyers or sellers on the platform, and eBay stands in the middle. “We can't be too biased on the buyer side and we can't be too heavy on the seller si…
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At Dell, social media has been around much longer than Facebook or Twitter. The popular Dell Community Forum was borne out of the original Dell.com website, so its community is well established. It’s a user-to-user forum where anyone – including Dell employees and other customers – can answer a user’s question. “Facebook and Twitter are typically f…
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Episode 45 - A Customer Service Expert on How Social Media Has Changed The Game (Shep Hyken)
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To understand how some people just have an innate sense for great customer service, you need only look back at Shep Hyken’s job during college. Before Shep became a world-renown customer service expert and best-selling author, he worked at a gas station...Today, Hyken consults with many companies and teaches them how to employ this same mindset to …
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Fitbit, a global leader in wearable fitness technology, has made it easier and more fun for millions of people to live a healthier life. And they’ve done it by focusing on the experience.“Customer experience is really paramount to everything we do here,” says Allison Leahy, the director of community at Fitbit, adding that in the online space, “Fitb…
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Intuit, long known for its community help forums for TurboTax, noticed that its small business clients were seeking help in a new place.“There was a lot of conversation happening on non-owned channels,” says Mark Obee, Group Manager of Social and Community Care for Intuit on the QuickBooks brand. “The accountants were out there having those convers…
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As a young entrepreneur, Davy Kestens didn’t quite know what to do when Volkswagen called and was interested in becoming his first big customer.“When you’re a one-man show, you try to do everything you can to not come across as a one-man show,” Kestens recalls. That “failed miserably of course,” he adds.Kestens, the founder and CEO of customer serv…
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Can a federal government agency be good at customer service? The Transportation Security Administration – better known by its acronym, TSA – is setting out to change perceptions and make traveling easier by answering all sorts of questions on social media. The agency, which screens 2.2 million passengers and their luggage daily, while also protecti…
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Topgolf, the golf and entertainment venue “for all ages, all skill levels, all year round,” has built its brand by integrating social media into the live experience.“We’re very lucky that our brand has such a natively social element to it,” says Director of Communications Adrienne Chance. “We see a lot of social media activity without having to pus…
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Although it’s one of America’s oldest companies, Wells Fargo has become one of the industry’s most forward-looking thinkers when it comes to social media and customer service. That’s thanks in part to Kimarie Matthews, Senior Vice President of Social Care and Capabilities, who has been building out Wells Fargo’s social care program since its first …
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Unlimited streaming of movies and TV shows to any device for a monthly fee – sound familiar? Up until recently, this service that Americans take for granted wasn’t available in many countries throughout Asia. Enter iflix, a Malaysian-based video-on-demand startup that aims to “bring the world’s best content to emerging markets at a price that every…
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When you consult almost any list of top companies for customer service, USAA’s name will be front and center. The financial services company founded by and for military veterans and their families has a fiercely loyal customer base, in large part due to the exceptional service they are provided in every channel.So when Richelle Caroll, the Director…
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As social customer care is still in its nascent period, it’s not easy to find someone who’s been doing it for even five years. Well, after interviewing Joshua March on the technology side for the last Focus on Customer Service podcast episode, we’ve found a second person, Delfin Vassallo, on the brand side. Delfin (pronounced Del-feen), a 20-year m…
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When Joshua March built an app for the new Facebook Application Platform in 2007, “social customer service was not a phrase,” he says. But March, now CEO & Co-Founder of Conversocial, saw an early opportunity. “I thought this was a really exciting opportunity for brands to engage with customers in a way they never had before.”Conversocial, a digita…
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With the seemingly endless popularity of puppy and kitten pictures, videos, and memes on the internet, it would seem that the social media script for America’s largest pet pharmacy could basically write itself. But while the customers of 1-800-PET-MEDS do like to post lots of photos of their pets, the company itself is serious about its business an…
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Episode 33 - How The Largest Utility in the U.S. Helps Customers Weather the Storm in Social Media
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When Duke Energy, the largest utility in the U.S., decided to launch a Facebook page, it started as simply a marketing effort. “What we didn’t expect was all the customers coming back at us,” says Madeleine Aman (pronounced “ah-min”), social media strategist for Duke Energy. So began the process of developing a social care strategy. The utility, te…
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There is perhaps no physical possession about which customers are more passionate than their cars. At my first job at The Danbury Mint, I remember customers critiquing every last detail of the products – and those were 1:24 scale replicas of the real thing. General Motors understands this dynamic, which is why they have staffed a team of social car…
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It’s rare that a company can so seamlessly integrate its product into social media, but Spotify's approach is music to its customers' ears.The popular music streaming company prides itself on what it calls “Random Acts of Kindness” – surprising the customer by sharing a song or a playlist based on their individual music tastes.The people behind the…
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Western Union may be an old company, but it’s definitely not standing still. One of the original components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the company started more than 160 years ago with the introduction of the telegraph, leading to the demise of the Pony Express.“It has such a storied history, but it’s had a pretty successful history of rei…
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It’s not only possible to provide B2B customer service in social media, it’s possible to do it creatively with a “wow” experience. That’s the goal of Nextiva, a cloud communications company that provides more than 100,000 small and large businesses with cloud-based telephone systems.“We felt there was an opportunity to disrupt that market,” says Vi…
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When you’re in the telecom industry, are known as the “Un-carrier”, and your CEO has 2.2 million followers on Twitter, you need to be ready for just about anything in social media. It also helps to be just a little “feisty”, says Director of Social Media Services, Michelle Mattson. The T-Mobile social care team – known as “T-Force” – certainly is, …
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It’s easy to understand that customer service in social media, as in any other channel, is conceptually a good idea. Assigning a quantifiable ROI to it, however, is another story. That’s what Wayne Huang, a researcher at Twitter, decided to tackle with what began as a pet project to examine that “electrifying moment of happiness” when a brand respo…
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“This is the greatest journey in sports history,” says Kevin Saghy, Manager of Communications for the Chicago Cubs, “and we want to see it through to completion.” He is referring, of course, to the Cubs being the odds-on favorites to win the World Series in 2016, something they haven’t done since Henry Ford produced the first Model T in 1908.Descri…
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When Jay Baer set out to write another book following his New York Times bestseller, Youtility, he thought he was going to write about the need for speed in both marketing and customer service. But a proprietary study he commissioned with Edison Research pushed him a different direction.“While speed is important and is getting more important, it is…
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Most startups depend on word-of-mouth marketing to create awareness of their new product, and iOgrapher is no different. But what makes iOgrapher unique is its focus on customer service as a driver of that word of mouth. “The convergence of marketing and customer service is key for us,” says Founder and CEO David Basulto, who describes iOgrapher as…
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Quick quiz: What country has the 3rd largest Twitter population in the world, and the 4th largest Facebook population? If you guessed Indonesia, then you’ve been paying close attention to the exploding popularity of social media there. Its capital, Jakarta has more people tweeting daily than Tokyo, London, or New York. In fact, Indonesia has even b…
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The mission of Southwest Airlines is dedication to the highest quality of Customer Service delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride, and Company Spirit.由Dan Gingiss & Dan Moriarty
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A “unique men’s fashion destination” that was “born social,” Jack Threads is a brand that understands the difference between customer service and true customer engagement. While the team does a great job of responding to direct customer inquiries, it purposely takes the time to engage proactively in fashion or lifestyle conversations with guys who …
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The sheer size of Hewlett-Packard’s operation – the company recently separated into two different Fortune 50 companies – requires a level of sophistication and scale that most organizations will never experience. But the rest of us can still learn a great deal from a huge, well-oiled machine that’s already solved many of the issues smaller companie…
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Video gamers are serious about their craft, and when something isn’t working like it’s supposed to, they want answers – quickly. Thankfully, Xbox (part of Microsoft) offers a host of support options, including live chat, an instant callback from a live agent, a robust community forum, and the most responsive Twitter account in the world.Yes, you re…
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A supplier of more than 60 Million stock photos, vectors, videos, and music tracks, Shutterstock provides individuals and businesses with “subscriptions and images on demand for every budget”. As social media continues to become more and more visual, it’s no wonder that Shutterstock fits right in from both a marketing and customer service perspecti…
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Scotty’s Brewhouse, an “upscale sports bar” with 13 locations in Indiana and coming soon to Illinois and Florida, was created by its namesake owner with the goal of providing a different kind of restaurant experience. “I wanted to make a restaurant that was some place that I could go into at any age and feel comfortable,” says Scott Wise, the Found…
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With more than 10,000 locations in 150 countries, Hertz is a world-renown rental car brand. In fact, Hertz is the largest worldwide airport general use car rental company with more than 1,600 airport locations in the U.S. and more than 1,300 airport locations internationally. Not surprisingly, that creates the need for outstanding customer service …
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DigitalOcean bills itself as “Simple Cloud Hosting, Built for Developers” and promises that even a rookie developer or engineer can deploy a cloud server with just a few clicks. “We’re simplifying the cloud for developers and providing an experience they will fall in love with,” says Daniel Zaltsman, DigitalOcean’s Social Media Manager. He said tha…
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For almost as long as Twitter has existed, people have tweeted comments, complaints, and even compliments at brands. Many brands have realized the importance of Twitter’s emergence as a key customer service channel, though 40% of tweets to service accounts still get no response. Now Twitter is formalizing its customer service recommendations to bra…
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Wink Frozen Desserts may not yet be a household name, but this ice cream company is changing lives – at least East of the Mississippi – one scoop at a time. Created especially for people with lactose intolerance, celiac disease, and certain food allergies, Wink’s line of frozen treats allows those who thought they couldn’t enjoy ice cream get a tas…
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The folks at Square Cow Moovers clearly have a sense of humor (note the two o’s in their name), but they know that providing outstanding customer service is no laughing matter. A residential and commercial moving company based in Austin, Texas, Square Cow Moovers boasts a coveted 5-star rating on Yelp, and asks its customers to rate every move on a…
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Filling yet another social engagement void that no one knew they needed, Blab is a multi-person live-streaming platform that is once again changing how we communicate with each other. Up to four speakers appear on video simultaneously in Brady Bunch-style boxes, while onlookers can participate via chat. Now anyone can be a broadcaster of content wi…
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To celebrate our 10th podcast episode – a milestone we weren’t sure we’d ever reach – we thought we’d take a walk down memory lane and look at what we’ve learned so far. So Dan and I recorded a special “recap” episode with just the two of us to summarize what you may have missed in episodes 1-9.We started the podcast because lots of people are talk…
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It’s no surprise that people are emotional about their smart phones, so a proper protective case can make or break – pun intended – the entire experience. In either case (yikes, another pun!), OtterBox and its sister company, LifeProof, are there to respond to customers on social media. Jessica Mack is the Senior Social Media Manager at both OtterB…
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Unless you’ve been living under a rock lately, chances are that someone in your social media feeds has been talking about Ultimate Fighting Championship – better known as UFC. With more than 17 million Facebook fans and 2.6 million followers on both Twitter and Instagram, the mixed martial arts event company has become a global social media powerho…
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Striving to provide a “personalized service experience” with every interaction, Telstra – Australia’s leading telecommunications company – offers its customers the ability to connect with the same agent each time they contact the company. “A lot of frustration stems from customers having to re-tell their story,” says Monty Hamilton, Head of Digital…
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Conceived by an Iron Man athlete looking for a plant-based, whole food alternative to nutritional supplements, Vega describes its products as “the future of optimal health”. Enjoyed by vegans and non-vegans alike, Vega’s products attract athletes of almost every sport looking for a more natural diet to help with training and ongoing health. Vega’s …
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ModCloth is “not just another retailer,” according to its founder, “but a social-shopping community with our customer at the center of everything we do.” Nowhere is that more apparent than in its approach to customer service, both on and off social media. Its agents, called “advocates,” often refer to themselves as “day makers” because their goal i…
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Buffer, the app that helps individuals and companies schedule social media posts and curate content, has had customer service at the heart of its offering since its inception. In fact, The Buffer Vision, as described on the website (https://buffer.com/about), begins with this statement: “Our vision at Buffer is to build the simplest and most powerf…
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