Social media is changing everything in trade. Even reserved Britons are losing their traditional aversion to making a scene, and using social media to complain about bad service provided by businesses.

 

That's what a survey by the Institute of Customer Service suggests. They analysed data from 200 organisations, including banks, utility companies and retailers¹ and have concluded that customers now expect 'dialogue, not monologue²' from companies.

 

If a shop assistant was rude and the price a rip-off, the unhappy customer - especially the young one - will take to microblog sites to slag³ off that company.

 

The trend has increased over the last few years. Thomas Brown, of the Chartered Institute of Marketing⁴, observed in an interview that big companies had previously⁵ enjoyed a "controlled" conversation with customers via advertising⁷ - and for a long time, unhappy customers could only express themselves through letters or calling a customer relations team. But with the internet, it's a whole new ballgame: which company can control online chat?

 

Brown continues: "Now there's a risk that you could have a groundswell of customers talking to each other and, from the brand's perspective, it can get out of hand very quickly."

 

Brown warns that there's a concern by businesses about the time and resources it takes them to properly manage social media. Big organisations which aren't monitoring it 24 hours a day could log off at the end of the trade day, only to log in the next morning to find that momentum⁸ has gathered behind a certain issue.

 

But it's not all doom⁹ and gloom for businesses in this new era of intense connectivity. The old word of mouth recommendation has a new platform too. Perhaps it's more true today than ever before: a satisfied customer is a company's best advert⁶.

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