Inbound Marketing, power to the people!
Wednesday, 2. September 2009
One of the reasons I love Inbound Marketing is because of its ability to reach a massive amount of users in a matter of seconds. This could be a great tool if you know your ways in Inbound Marketing ‘land’. It can also be a damaging tool to a brand if their customers know how to use a few simple tools, such as Twitter, to create some social waves.
Let me illustrate it by sharing with you a story that happened yesterday.
Last week we started having problems with our Internet connection. At first it started during the night time, around 8pm, and remained disconnected for 5-6 hours. Then, during this last weekend, we started getting disconnected in the morning time (and night time), sometimes for hours.
At this stage of the problem we decided to call Comcast, who provides the service to our house. We spent a good 20 minutes on the phone trying to explain the problem, and at the end of this phone call the operator suggested to send a technician. The technician arrived to our house, and said to us that the problem is too complicated for him to repair, and it actually a problem that requires Comcast to send an engineer to fix. As we were talking with the technician outside the house, we came to learn that a few of our neighbors have a similar problem with their Internet. At this point the technician suggested to call the company to keep reporting about the problem, and eventually they will send an engineer to examine the problem (“only if you have enough complaints”, he said).
This is the point I decided to use the social media marketing skills I have to create some ‘social wave’, or, if you will, shake Comcast’s brand a little by creating enough damaging “buzz” to push it fix my Internet problem a little faster. .
I chose the fastest and most powerful tool I have in my Inbound Marketing tool box, Twitter. This is what I tweeted:
- I can’t believe it, 7days in a row & no Internet in morning or night! @comcast sucks! That’s it, I had enough of this BS, switching 2day6:26 AM Aug 31st from TweetDeck
- danronken@ItaiBoublil Dude, that’s crazy. Seven day in a row w no internet service due to comast? Do you have other broadband options where you live?6:29 AM Aug 31st from HootSuite in reply to ItaiBoublil
- U bet I have other options @danronken Welcome to America @comcast , your competitor is begging 2 have my business, and they will!6:36 AM Aug 31st from HootSuite
- ComcastBill@ItaiBoublil whats going on can i help7:15 AM Aug 31st from web in reply to ItaiBoublil
- @ComcastBill The tech guy was here on Thur, said everything is fine. He said that entire street is down, and what we need is an engineer.9:15 AM Aug 31st from HootSuite in reply to ComcastBill
- ComcastBill@ItaiBoublil will see whats up9:21 AM Aug 31st from web in reply to ItaiBoublil
This is more or less the entire social media conversation I exchanged with @ComcastBill. It lasted about 6-7 Tweets, and resolved by Comcast sending an engineer on the same day!
Fortunately for Comcast they realized the power of Inbound Marketing. In contrast to Comcast, other companies, unfortunately, are still struggling to accept the fact that the rules of customer service have changed, and the customer now has the power to strengthen, damage , or destroy their brand.
Share your own experience by commenting.
