Jimmy Griffin & The Wonderful World of Social Media

From the 'Drop the Monkey Business' column in The Galway Advertiser 12/09/2013 P.111

All the different social media sites can be daunting places to be when you’re in business, however when used right it can generate great outcomes. Most businesses struggle to use it to their benefit as they base all their posts on products that they sell and very little focus on customer’s needs outside the scope of what they want the customer to buy. It’s a voice not just for your business and products, but also for your customers and community. In the wonderful world called social media, on the different platforms and the endless stream of social sites bidding for your attention to join and partake in a sometimes addictive environment where you can tell everybody about everything and have nothing to show for your efforts and nobody interacting with you, it can be hard to get excited. However the opposite is also true. You can talk to an engaged and interested audience about one important item that generates lots of interest and activity, both online and offline. Using social media at it’s best comes when we take the words ‘Social’ and ‘Media’ and apply the literal meaning of the words like a winning formula that can’t be any other way but successful. Think about what you’d talk about over a pint or a coffee. You keep it social and interesting. In many ways what it amounts to is good conversation by somebody who is impassioned about something that affects the masses.  A great local example of this is when Jimmy Griffin from Griffins bakery started the online Facebook page: Galway City Car Parking Information from Griffins Bakery, a community page talking about Galway city car parking charges and sharing ideas and discussions about a better approach to the subject. Jimmy is harnessing the voice of the people for fair car parking charges. 

On meeting Jimmy upstairs in the bakery I quickly learned why he is so good at social media. Jimmy is good at social. He’s good with customers. He knows them all by name and he takes time to connect and say hello to everybody. He is passionate about his customers, passionate about his business and passionate about getting a solution to a problem that is of no help to his business, his customers or the local community. By creating a platform and communicating to a engaged audience on that platform gives both the creator and the participants a voice that can not be ignored. Jimmy’s car park campaign has been the subject of much radio and print media (including this article), which can create discussion and evoking change. What Jimmy is doing is using his expertise online and his brand to channel the concerns of his customers and potential customers, which otherwise go unheard. Social media gives power to the people. Responses happen faster and the conversations are more heartfelt and honest. When I asked Jimmy his take on social media in business, he said “Social media offers businesses immediate one to one communication with people. It has life and is happening in real time allowing people to communicate their thoughts there and then creating more honest and direct measurable dialogue that is instant.” This is very true on Facebook and Twitter where if you don’t respond or get a response to a post while it is sitting in your newsfeed it fades away; you are only as good as yesterday’s bread. (Excuse the pun!) Jimmy added “It has the power to create anticipation and debate when used in the right way, at the right time and for the right reason when looking to get the right result.”  When approaching Social Media ask how you can use the space as a voice for you and for others? How can you respond and get a response that will get people talking? Speak about the things that matter most to your customers and as much as you may like to believe they want to talk about the products you sell, more than likely it’s far from that. At the end of the day, it is all in the name: ‘Social’. Be Social. Nobody wants Spam. Another great plus ‘You get the opportunity to connect with a different audience. If you’re going to be on Facebook or any other social media site, be sure to be social and engaging, just as if you were going to go into a bakery you’d be sure to come out with something sweet!

Customer Service & Social Media

From the 'Drop the Monkey Business' column in The Galway Advertiser 04/4/2013 P.81

Many customers, especially younger people, don't want to sit on the phone with a company's customer service representative to get an issue resolved when they can post their questions or problems directly to the company’s Facebook page for all to see. With the increasing popularity of social media, more people are veering away from traditional ways of contacting businesses and using sites like Facebook and Twitter instead. Are you 100% providing customer service in the social media space?

Customers are now controlling where they will do business with you. Not long ago, the customer use to come to the shop to make a purchase. Things have changed and now it’s the shop that goes to the customer via online e-commerce and social media. How do you bring customer service and social media together? Nowadays, a lot of businesses are providing a more responsive customer service on the social media networks, as they know everybody is watching.  Consumers are making decisions every day based on social media interactions. Facebook and Twitter aren’t just for business brand exposure or product marketing.  These are more and more becoming two-way communication tools, just like you’d send an email or make a telephone call. Now the customer has another way to contact you and your business. Social media is fast becoming the channel of choice for customers who have issues or questions. The difference is that everybody can see your interaction, comment on it and have an opinion on what was once deem a private engagement between the business and the client. To provide a good service in this area you need to understand what customer service means to you and how you can apply your philosophy to the growing world of social media.

We all know and would say that the businesses we run and are involved in have some level of customer service. In fact, most business owners will claim to have customer service to some degree. From one extreme of you ‘call, we’ll put you on hold and we will never answer’ to the other extreme of ‘order today and get it yesterday’. Have you ever asked yourself if you deliver good customer service online? Have you ever measured it? Would you say you have systems in place that allow your customers to have great customer experiences when they interact with your business on the Internet. It doesn’t leave a great impression when a potential customer arrives at your social media site and sees that your profile picture isn’t very professional and that the last comment you answered was two weeks ago. People will perceive your level of customer service off-line by how you engage and respond online; therefore it’s important to cross over your level of customer service to your social media platforms. Why? So you can be everywhere your customer and potential customer is, so to give customer service. To be active where your customers are active, so you can engage and give customer service. To be a fly on the wall when your customers are talking about your business. Years ago, before the time of the internet a lot of businesses would have paid a lot of money to be a fly on the wall when customers were talking about them or their products outside the walls of the shop. Now you can do that with social media. You can create that space. It empowers you to be active in reaching out to customers and answer feedback, negative or positive. Customer service is about meeting expectations, engaging and communicating with customers wherever they are looking for you, be it online or off-line. Engage with your customers online in the same way that you would if they rang you or came to your store to make a purchase. There is nothing more frustrating than being in a queue that doesn’t move or phoning a number that doesn’t get answered. It’s no different online, so pimp up your social media sites and invite your customers to participate with you in these spaces. Get active and responsive to meet the expectations of your customers on social media.