Imagine a Thirteen Thousand Percent Increase in Customer Influence

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An interesting conversation was held on Mike Whaling’s BlogTalkRadio show yesterday regarding social media and customer service. Check out the podcast to hear some of the thoughts. Basically what the discussion was over was the difference between in person and social media when it applies to customer service. We have always found that the person in person contact is the best but it is just not always possible. The same applies to apartment communities. You can’t always be everywhere and that is where social media comes into play.

What solidified it for me was reading this article entitled, “The Future of Customer Service is Social.” The pictorial graph to help visualize this was amazing. Here are a couple of the stats that the article contained. Back in 1983 a disgruntled customer had influence over 10 people. Here we are in 2010 and that same person now has an estimated influence range of 1375 people which is a thirteen thousand percent increase. Now we know every person will be different on an individual basis, but collectively this is a sobering statistic to chew on.

Where does this leave the multifamily industry? As part of the conversation on the podcast above the recent National Multi-Housing Council conference was discussed. What was encouraging to me when watching the tweet stream was the amount of positive feedback property management companies were sharing about the impact social media has had for their business. It has been debated for a couple of years now whether or not this would actually take place and it appears on certain levels the dust is starting to settle.

The circle of influence is only going to grow for our residents and customers. There is really no choice in the matter, it is a must! It’snever too late to jump on board and there are plenty of good examples out there for you to follow and learn from. I wrote a post about the irony of signing up for some of these social media platforms and then not using them. The most important thing you can do is to take those real offline conversations and bring them online. Bring your personality and bring your courtesy and be where your residents are.

The art of conversation is a whole other matter. What have you been doing to effectively communicate with your residents using social media? Please share any best practices or testimonials that you have noticed or experienced.

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Written by Jonathan Saar

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http://twitter.com/SGreenough SGreenough

Jonathan – The statistic of reaching 10 people in 1983 vs. reaching 1375 people in 2010 makes me wonder if it is inevitable that this influence will become diluted as more and more people extend their reach. Will customer complaints have the same value now-a-days to other customers or will they start discounting comments due to the sheer volume?
I think you nailed it with the phrase “The art of conversation…..” to me, this is the game changer, effective Conversationalists will be the Influencers that rise to the top! It is fascinating to see how everything is unfolding…..we certainly are charging forward into new territory. Love it.
http://www.thetrainingfactor.com/ Jonathan Saar

Sarah you make a very valid point regarding dilution. I think it will be up to the brands response to the complaint that will make a difference and on the other hand too much noise could just get shut off as well. The recent Amazon case is on that I am still chewing on and it will be interesting to see the overall impact of that PR disaster. My overall intent for todays post was continue to keep an awareness and encourage folks to continue.

If property management companies do no have “conversationalists” representing them, then we know where the voices of dissent will go. Thanks for your insights. I always love your perspectives!
http://twitter.com/BSitko BSitko

I have been hyped up on this as well. It’s why I was bummed about missing the live chat yesterday.

The company I work for has been in business for a long time. It has been difficult to get them to see the benefits of using it. Why? They are afraid of having a real dialogue with our residents and don’t want to have the negatives “out there”. We can talk ad nauseum about why that mentality doesn’t fit the new customer service model. All I can do internally is continue to highlight the benefits and hope that one day the light bulb goes off.

I am excited to see how customer service will continue to evolve using social media. Our customers are more empowered than ever. Great post.
http://www.thetrainingfactor.com/ Jonathan Saar

Very cool attitude Bill. I once was in the advocate seat when I first came on board and that was when there really was not much data to support our direction. It’s one of the reasons why I write posts like this from time to time to help our industry overall see the potential that is there. Thanks for the commendation and for commenting today.