Social Media Ball Dropped by Canadian Business?
Had an interesting meeting this morning with the director of sales for a corporation that creates and maintains online communities for business, industry, governmment, and associations. The discussion involved the acceptance levels for social media as a practical tool to communicate either employee to employee, or employee to customer. As it turns out, to no surprise, American companies, on the whole, accept social media as an important "armament", as Jay Conrad Levinson may call it. In other words, many Canadian businesses may not yet see the value in social media as a communication tool.
To be sure, some Canadian companies are utilizing social media. For example, Home Depot Canada is on Twitter, " ... a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?", as their website explains. Home Depot chooses to advertise products in this media. I could not locate any venue communicating with their customers. Social media, as I understand it, is the exchange of ideas, thoughts, and comments. It is not an adverising platform. The way I see it, Home Depot has an amazing opportunity to address customer concerns in the open. Better still, why not offer handy tips and advice in response to customer feedback? What a terrific way to improve your customer service!
Home Depot USA has assigned an employee to communicate on Twitter. Here she is:
Name anne_manning
Location Atlanta
Bio Mom, wife, Manning Homes "office lady", and new media/comms mgr at The Home Depot.
I thought this was a step in the right direction, but I may be wrong. As a "new media/comms mgr" I expected Ms. Manning to address customer inquiries. Instead, I see this,
" 1 hour into potty training fun day and we've had one poo-poo and one tee-tee in the potty. Accidents = 0. hope this continues...go ella! 12:45 PM July 12, 2008 from web." Now, I'm all for openness, however, there is a time and place. To be fair, I am not sure what perimeters were put in place for this Twitter account by Home Depot. Perhaps the idea was to illustrate that Home Depot employees are human beings...just like their customers. What's a "tee-tee' anyway?
The fact of the matter is many corporations can make better use of social media. In general, American companies are grappling with its potential, whereas their Canadian counterparts are waiting for the starters' pistol to be reloaded and fired again. Come on Canada! Let's go!
To be sure, some Canadian companies are utilizing social media. For example, Home Depot Canada is on Twitter, " ... a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?", as their website explains. Home Depot chooses to advertise products in this media. I could not locate any venue communicating with their customers. Social media, as I understand it, is the exchange of ideas, thoughts, and comments. It is not an adverising platform. The way I see it, Home Depot has an amazing opportunity to address customer concerns in the open. Better still, why not offer handy tips and advice in response to customer feedback? What a terrific way to improve your customer service!
Home Depot USA has assigned an employee to communicate on Twitter. Here she is:
Name anne_manning
Location Atlanta
Bio Mom, wife, Manning Homes "office lady", and new media/comms mgr at The Home Depot.
I thought this was a step in the right direction, but I may be wrong. As a "new media/comms mgr" I expected Ms. Manning to address customer inquiries. Instead, I see this,
" 1 hour into potty training fun day and we've had one poo-poo and one tee-tee in the potty. Accidents = 0. hope this continues...go ella! 12:45 PM July 12, 2008 from web." Now, I'm all for openness, however, there is a time and place. To be fair, I am not sure what perimeters were put in place for this Twitter account by Home Depot. Perhaps the idea was to illustrate that Home Depot employees are human beings...just like their customers. What's a "tee-tee' anyway?
The fact of the matter is many corporations can make better use of social media. In general, American companies are grappling with its potential, whereas their Canadian counterparts are waiting for the starters' pistol to be reloaded and fired again. Come on Canada! Let's go!
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