DUBLIN – Highlighting the changing telecommunications ecosystem, IBM’s global industry leader Bob Fox cited a recent study released by the company revealing that around 33% of consumers choose social media as their main source of information when looking for communications, products and services, jumping to 50% within the 18-25 age bracket.
On day two of the TM Forum in Dublin, Ireland, John Myers of the Blue Buffalo Group, Emer O’Neil of O2 Ireland, Anthony O’Neill of Eircom, Anthony Behan of IBM, and Carlos Andre Pinheiro of Telemar Norte Leste joined Fox to talk about the growing importance of social media within the telecommunications space and what exactly social media can do for telecommunications if used correctly.
All the panelists emphasized the importance of using social media to improve the brand experience with the overarching goal to reduce churn within the highly competitive global telecommunications market. Interestingly enough, the panelists seemed to agree that marketing initiatives using social media to increase brand visibility was somewhat of an afterthought.
John Myers, a senior strategist at the Blue Buffalo Group, kicked off the conversation by admitting it takes a different mindset to fully utilize social media and social analytics within an organization. ”Business is often based on structured data from a database spreadsheet – social analytics is definitely an unstructured format,” he said.
After acceptance, the panelists agreed that effective social campaigns to measure and improve customer experience require individualized attention and an increased response speed.
“You have a fantastic opportunity within social media to turn almost an immediate churn into a successful customer,” said Emer O’Neil of O2 Ireland.
Anthony O’Neill, director of insights and analytics at Irish telecom Eircom/Meteor, spoke about the company’s net promoter score (NPS), a social score designed to gauge customer loyalty. To reach the score the telecom takes the number of people considered “promoters” who would rate the company at a nine or ten, and subtract the number of “detractors,” those who would rate the company from zero to six. Eircom found that after implementing social networking strategies to deal with customer service issues, its NPS went up dramatically, which ultimately resulted in reduced churn within the line fault broadband initiative.
Once obtaining the NPS, O’Neill explained that Eircom identified sink holes, worked on locker management, and reduced the average customer service complaint response from 4.3 days to 2.1. The result? Dramatically decreased churn.
Both O2 and Eircom emphasized the importance of immediacy when dealing with problems using social networks. Anthony Behan likened venting on social networks with that of a dropped call, where a user will immediately call back and complain about the network. Behan warned that if a problem like this was left unattended, networks would be less likely to retain loyal customers. In a voice call, it’s pretty much impossible for a carrier to interact and mitigate the influence, but within social media, it’s highly possible. With social media, companies have an opportunity to interact with these people complaining openly to friends and followers, which makes immediacy invaluable.
When RCR Wireless asked if these companies were reaching beyond social media for customer service and into a more active social-based marketing campaign, Emer O’Neil of O2 Ireland said it was indeed a viable channel but remains a second priority in terms of customer experience improvement initiatives.
She said, “Social media is great for addressing the issues and answering the issues that people are venting online but is becoming more and more of a branding element used to crystallize the brand experience.” She added that obtaining “social influence” is an added bonus or byproduct rather than a main strategy as of now.
