Social media has changed everyone’s expectations when it comes to customer service.
For Research In Motion, that realization hit home during a 2006 smartphone launch. Customers were talking and asking questions about RIM products on social media, and it was an opportunity the company didn’t want to miss.
Today, RIM is helping customers across a wide range of social platforms. In her BlogWell presentation, RIM’s Michelle Kostya explained how she and her team made it happen:
- Help customers help each other. RIM empowered its BlackBerry brand evangelists to support each other and help others in the community. It also wanted to provide self-service options such as help blogs and how-to videos — all so people with different preferences could learn the way they wanted to.
- Create a sandbox environment. RIM worked with different stakeholders to realize where it needed to start its social presence and how it could expand. The company started with support forums and Facebook in 2008. In 2009, it started blogs and expanded onto Twitter.
- Run a pilot. RIM hired three people as social media analysts who supported the channels from a technical-support perspective. Today, RIM measures success through followers counts, engagements, retweets and replies. Positive tweets and thank-yous are also looked at. The company is also surveying people about their feelings towards @BlackBerryHelp.
Watch Michelle’s case study: