Are You Using Social Media to Improve Your Customer Service?

If you aren't, you should be.  Here's a great example of how one of the country's biggest companies is using a very personal touch to provide excellent customer service, and create evangelists for their brand.

Kami Huyse is one of the more popular PR bloggers on the internet, and recently she started having problems with her HP desktop computer.  She finally decided that the computer was on its last legs, and needed to be replaced ASAP.  The problem was, she needed a new computer immediately, and couldn't wait for one to be shipped to her.

She had decided that she would seriously consider a Dell, and contacted Richard Binhammer for his recommendation.  If you aren't familiar with Richard, he is one of several Dell employees that are incredibly active in the blogosphere, on Facebook, Twitter, and their own blogs.   This is probably one reason why Kami explains her decision to consider a Dell: "I knew that I would consider buying a Dell the next time around.  Mostly because they have given me faith that even if my product is a lemon, my concern will not fall on deaf or non-existent ears."

When Richard discovered that time was of the essence for Kami in getting her new PC, he suggested that she buy a Dell from Best Buy, and even drove down to his local Best Buy to see which models they carried, and called Kami from the sales floor with his suggestions.  Kami ended up getting a Dell Inspirion 1420, and Dell got yet another blogging evangelist for their company and brand.  And all it cost Dell was the price of the gas to drive to a local Best Buy.  Sounds like a good deal to me.

I've blogged before about the incredible turnaround that Dell has enjoyed in the blogosphere, and this is another example of why this is happening.  But the lesson here is that if a large company such as Dell can still be nimble enough to use social media to provide individualized customer service, what possibilities are there for your business?

BTW in true bloggy-fashion I should disclose that I will be moderating The Future of Corporate Blogging panel at South by Southwest next month at Dell's request.  But even if I weren't, I would still recognize that it's a great move by large companies such as Dell to use social media to improve their core business functions.