After the Conference

If you happen to follow me on Twitter or be connected with me on LinkedIn, you probably know that I attended the First Wednesday Group's excellent Voice of the Customer Conference in Massachusetts this past week. This was my second time, and I'm so glad I attended. The producers put together a great range of speakers, and there is always a lot to learn.

But here's where the value of any conference is either made or broken: What's next? What did I take away from this event that helps my job, my career, my life? What did I hear—what topics were discussed that will make a difference for me over the next year?

Here, as I heard it, were the salient customer service points made at this conference:

• If your company is not paying attention to social media (Twitter and Facebook especially), it should be
• People are talking about your company, products and services, and if you are not in the mix, search engines will own the conversation more than you will
• People consult social media, including reviews and ratings, before buying a product or service
• The methods currently used to measure customer satisfaction need to be updated
• Customer-provided voluntary support information can be extremely valuable. Knowledgeable people will post answers to questions, an will solve problems for people for free—but make sure you thank them*
• Companies struggle with knowing when to step in with their own support

We are all learning how to use these new forms of global, instant communication. How to use them well is something we have to figure out as we go along. In my line of work, some organizations already are using Twitter as a method of getting assistance from the service desk.

It's an exciting time. How we deal with all this change will steer the customer service and support industry through the next decade and beyond.

What have you learned recently from a meeting, webinar, conference or workshop that will stay with you in your world?

Give it some thought.

*The Microsoft MVP community marked a 30% increase in questions answered after a word of thanks.

Being a Hub

A few days ago, I received an announcement email for a terrific conference called Voice of the Customer. I attended last year and enjoyed the program immensely. The surroundings are gorgeous, the topics are timely, the speakers are knowledgeable, and the networking opportunities are abundant.

At the end of last year's conference, the producers asked for topics to present this year. One of the ideas that seemed to have some traction was about creating "user groups" as a component of better support. Now, it so happens that I used to be a regional liaison for a large user group program, and had 47 user groups from Maine to Delaware in my region. I offered privately to one of the producers to see if I could get my successor in that position to address the topic. After a few tries, I managed to get the two talking to each other, and there was the session on this year's program. It wasn't a big deal. I just got two people talking to each other about a specific thing.

People often ask me questions like, "Do you know anybody who...?" or "Do you know where I can find..?." As many times as not, I have an answer, and many of those times it's, "Let me ask my friend (insert name). They might know." And, many times, I'm able to provide either the information, or a connection to the information.

In the branch of network theory called social network analysis, there are people who are particularly busy hubs, people with large groups of 'loose ties.' These people can often shortcut searches for information and help.

I'm one of these people. I don't have large family or a small group of active friends, but I have friends from about every walk of life you can imagine, and I can reach out to just about any one of them for an answer or for some expertise at just about any time. And I love to be able to help. It makes me feel like a valuable human being, and that is something all of us can stand to feel more often.

If you're "somebody who knows somebody who knows somebody," you are a "useful" person according to social network analysis, and if you aren't making these kinds of connections, maybe you can learn to do so.

Give it some thought.

The Twitter About Twitter: Episode III

I did learn a little something basic about Twitter yesterday: The "hash" (#) to simplify searching. I included "#hdi" in one of my tweets to enable other HDI people to find it. This little trick I learned from watching other people's tweets, and from tuning into BookTV, which was showing events from BookExpo America, and hearing people mention the tweets that were being posted (#bea or #bea09). So, another small lesson learned.

I also committed an error, replying to a questioning tweet without specifying the topic. Oops. I did indicate to whom I was replying, using the Twitter handle form "@username." So I got it almost right.

Another day, this one including my usual 9.5 hours in my office and about 1.5 hours of commuting, so less time to devote to Twitter. Hopped on at lunch and tweeted about a device that's almost beyond credibility that a colleague had pointed out.

At the end of the day, I caught up a bit, and found again a litany of tweets about Twitter, listed here anonymously, partially, and in no particular order:

• The Future Of Twitter Visualized
• Twitter Your Way to Getting Robbed
• Real Time Events, As Tweeted By The People Who Are Actually There
• Xbox Gains Facebook and Twitter Integration
• Blown Cover: A Couple Ways To Stop Those Spymaster Invite DMs (Direct Messages)
• Twitter to a Job

And so on. It's a little bit like something I call NASCARma: What goes around comes around and around and around and around.

I'll continue to blog about Twitter periodically, but here end the days of consecutive posts. There's too much happening to be staring at the world through this strange little lens very often. Still, I think there might be some value here.

Give it some thought.

The Twitter About Twitter: Episode II

Yes, I was up late last night. I was reading, and I was tweeting. The only thing new about that is the tweeting. I have begun to answer the question, "How much work is this going to be?" The answer is, "Not as much as I thought."

Like anything else multidimensional, I could get deeper and deeper and deeper into Twitter. I could analyze the dynamics of "crowdsourcing." I could concentrate on building my personal brand, and fitting that into my work life. I suspect I will do some of each. Here's what I've learned after two whole days:

• Pay attention - Notice how others are tweeting, both form and content
• Watch out for the predators who are only following you so that they can sell you something you weren't looking for in the first place
• Keep your guard up
• Set some goals for yourself, and some limits, e.g., "I'll tweet at least 4 times today, but I won't stay up 2 hours late"
• If you are using Twitter as an advertising tool, don't make it personal
• If you are using Twitter—as many claim to be—as a writing improvement exercise, craft your tweets carefully. They will need to be more poetry than prose, and every word will count
• Search for people and for content - Look around and absorb

There's plenty of advice out there about how to use Twitter effectively and Twitter 101. Once you decide that you are going to take this plunge, do a little research, and sign up for that account.

Give it some thought.

The Twitter About Twitter

OK--You got me. I am doing social networking. I have been on LinkedIn for quite a while now, and I have now taken the Twitter plunge. If this can happen to me, it can happen to anyone. It's not that I'm resistant to change (I've seen and taken part in huge changes), but rather that I need to see how a change will make an impact for my life and my work, as well as on my life and my work. I need to know that a change has some benefit, because I know there is going to be work involved.

My primary reasons for becoming more visible and more active in the social networking sphere revolve around my work with a professional association, in my case, HDI, and specifically the Northern New England Chapter of HDI. I could not have foreseen 5 or 6 years ago that a challenging and rewarding career in technical support could spawn a challenging and rewarding volunteer career as well.

What pushed me over the edge, finally, was the content of a conference call yesterday with other HDI chapter presidents. The call was organized by my roommate for the HDI 2009 Conference, Phil Gerbyshak, and was an outstanding conversation among peers with common interests.

It took me a little while to get the hang of tweeting, but I found numerous sources of expertise, including Phil's own writing on the subject. I also came armed with my own perspicacity and awareness that, online, little is what it seems to be.

One of the things I noticed right away (it's hard not to) is that many of the tweets I see are about Twitter. "Business needs Twitter." "Twitter as an advertising tool." "How to Twitter Better." (Say that fast, just for fun!) I'm joining in on that score as well, because I'm blogging about Twitter, and then I will tweet about this blog. In then end, perhaps, the 21st century will be about the 21st century.

Don't get me wrong--I've already found new things and read things I might not have noticed otherwise. In searching for one person on Twitter, I found another by the same name, and decided to follow anyway, after looking at the profile.

I'm not sure how far this will intrude into my already sleep-deprived life. I'll let you know the answer to that. In fact, if you are considering taking the dive into social media, perhaps I can serve as your probe. I will update here often, and I will write about my blunders as well as my successes.

Give it some thought. But don't look for me on Facebook just yet.