Improve Your Customer Service Skills…. With Twitter?

When you think of seeking advice for your customer service, what immediately pops in your head? Is the first idea to ask a bunch of strangers on Twitter what they think of the current trends and topics in the industry? I’d guess it's probably not.

You might toss that suggestion away as a terrible idea, but it’s actually not when a great deal of those ‘strangers’ happen to be the top minds in their field. In fact, this conversation takes place every week on Twitter under the hashtag #custserv. And if you’re not tuned in, you are missing out!

Tweet Chat?

If you’ve never participated in a tweet chat before, this is how it works. There’s an assigned time for the chat, usually during the evening so more people can participate. At the designated time, everyone signs on to Twitter.

Now the hashtag mentioned above is a way for Twitter to organize information – when you click on the hashtag in your preferred Twitter client or just on Twitter.com, you see a list of everyone who has used it. This is the way the tweet chat is organized, through this hashtag.

Anytime someone responds in the chat they use the hashtag in their tweet. Tweet chats are typically led by one or more admins so things don’t get too confusing or off topic. Often they’ll send out predetermined questions and let people respond.

After an hour or so the chat will “officially” end – though more often than not, the conversations continue unofficially! Afterwards you can choose to follow the people you talked to so you can remain informed and touch bases later while you assess all the info you learned.

What You Can Learn

If you’ve ever imagined a topic for conversation in the world of customer service, it’s bound to have been covered during one of these #custserv chats. If it hasn’t, this week is the perfect time to suggest it!

Topics vary widely – everything from how to deal with difficult customers to how far companies should go to placate people. Opinions also vary widely, with some experts leaning towards doing whatever it takes to win over customers and others saying not to stress about it. And, of course, everything in between.

The best thing about the tweet chats is that everyone participating wants to hear your opinion! Without fresh ideas and, yes, dissenting voices, the chats become uninteresting and die down. So why not get involved and add yours to the mix?

Do you have a crazy theory on why some customers act nuts when they don’t get their way? Always thought that shipping should be free no matter what? Wanted to know what the author of eBay For Dummies has to say about using customer service as a way to boost sales? Then come join the #custserv tweet chat this week and start talking!

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