Five Questions with Comcast’s Twitter Rep
Comcast is one of a growing number of companies actively using twitter as an early warning system for customer service issues. It’s an interesting example of companies trying to pro-actively reach out to people when they have problems, or when they get lost in telephone support hell and just want to hear from a human being.
I offer no judgments here about Comcast, the quality of its service, etc. This post is about Frank Eliason, Comcast’s Rep who tracks twitter every day and responds to customer questions, and the role of social media tools like twitter in fostering a closer engagement with their “audience.” (Yes, these companies are also thinking about brand management, but aren’t all of us in public media?)
1) How did Comcast’s use of Twitter come about? Was it your idea? Was it difficult to get company buy-in?
We started reaching out on the internet about 6 months ago. We did this through blogs and other websites that were discussing Comcast. It started off slowly, but we continued to build steam. As you can imagine it was very successful. Based on the success we worked to expand our efforts. About 3 months ago, Scott Westerman (@wscottw3) pointed us in the direction of Twitter. We started watching Twitter at the time, but we only reached out through blog posts. Then one Sunday, Michael Arrington came across an RSS feed, so we reached out. He wrote a blog post.
Two interesting points to the blog post. First people started to say that it was only because it was Michael Arrington, but then others started to chime in that we helped them too. The other interesting point was because it was now known that we were on Twitter we decided to get more involved. This led to the rewarding experience we are now seeing.
2) How do you do it - how do you discover conversations about Comcast that are taking place, and then “insert yourself” for lack of a better term, into the conversation?
We use Tweetscan and Summize, as well as RSS feeds of Tweets mentioning Comcast. We respond to many of those tweets.
3) What is the benefit to Comcast that comes from engaging customers through twitter, since twitter is still a tiny segment of the online community?
The biggest benefit is the speed in which you know something is going on. People share everything there, so if they are having trouble in one area, they mention in Twitter. This is sometimes before they even call.
4) Does Comcast use any metric to gauge the effectiveness of twitter or other social media tools?
At this time we mainly use online tools, but we are looking into tools that will assist [us.]
5) Do you have any thoughts about ways public radio stations could use twitter to engage with their listeners?
Stations have a lot of unique programming. Sometimes small stations have great programming that can be lost with everything on the net. This is a great audience to share it. I also think that Twitter is a great place for engaging conversations, so after certain shows, participate in a Twitter conversation on the same topic. Not only can listeners participate, but it will bring in a whole new audience.
Social Media Insider profiles Frank Eliason here.
UPDATE: Troy Rutter posts two more examples of companies who understand how to use twitter.
Frank hits the nail on the head!
Some thoughts on question number 5.
Increasingly, Twitter is becoming the Internet’s “Alert System”. I have it percolating on my desktop all day and love how I get news first and fast from places like @googlenews @cnnbrk and @breakingnewson. These typically re-purpose RSS feeds for display on Twitter, but get the job done.
What you’re doing with @wfplnews is a great start. Be sure to remember to make your headlines short enough that they fit, with a link-back, within the 140 character limit.
Think, too, about setting up specialized twitter accounts for news events, perhaps @wpfllive. There was good realtime coverage of both the Iowa and PA primaries on specialized accounts that folks set up. The tinyurl links to deeper coverage and to multi-media is also a key. Twitter by it’s nature is a headline service. Use it to drive people to your website.
Finally, @wpflmembers could be a special account for members to engage in convesation with you. It can be a real-time FAQ, where folks can get programming updates, fund drive info, etc.
From the news gathering perspective, use http://www.summize.com as a resource to gather information on stories you are covering. The right key words can generate some fascinating and useful stuff. Remember, of course, that Twitter is subject to the same kind of speculation and urban legend that happens when you’re discussing your day in your favorite bar. But I’ve found a Twitter search like summize to be, sometimes, even more useful than google, because the results are near real-time.
Hope this helps! Feel free to write if you want to brainstorm.
Scott Westerman
Comcast Southwest
Albuquerque, NM
scott.westerman@comcast.net
@wscottw3 on twitter.
Scott, I agree with you - it makes a good alert system. It certainly is susceptible to rumor and urban legend, but Robert Scoble makes a good point when he says it’s a way to get wind of trends, an opportunity to hear what people are talking about.