While social media applications become pervasive in virtually all aspects of everyday life, the adoption of social media in the contact center has stalled.
In the 2010 survey, 18 percent of respondents reported that they were actively using social media in the contact center. Despite the fact that 18 percent of respondents in 2010 indicated that they were planning to add social media to their customer communications channel mix in the next year, the growth failed to materialize. The 2012 survey revealed that 18 percent of respondents were actively using social media in the contact center. Growth in the use of social media over two years was virtually non-existent.
I believe the problem lies in uncertainty concerning the management of social media once it is put into use. It is clear that existing contact center customer service rules are not relevant in the world of social media. For example, does a posting on a company’s Facebook page that says something to the effect of “I hate your company” deserve the time and consideration of a response, or does the business risk ignoring it and seeing the poster launch some sort of viral anti-company phenomenon that takes weeks or longer to fix? Does the rant of a 15 year old who hates his/her cell phone warrant the time of a customer service representative and the effort of a response?
While attending the Verint Driving Innovation user group meeting in