Social Media Means Customer Interaction

Taking care of customers in an age where social media has grown exponentially means taking risks. So in April 2010 when Swedish mail-order club company Homeenter first started up its Facebook page, it was no spur-of-the moment decision. "We started three months before and spent a lot of time making sure we did it right," says Åsa Lorentzson, service director at Homeenter. And it shows.

Lorentzson put together a group within Homeenter from different parts of the company - marketing, sales information and customer service - to come up with a solution that would fit a range of needs. "The idea was to work with branding, what we offer our customers and product development," she says.

What Facebook provides is a chance for customers to interact directly with the company, which isn't always an easy step to take. "It can be scary for some companies, but we decided we had to just jump in," Lorentzson says. What the group who developed the page came up with was a mix of news from Homeenter, tips, special offers and contests specifically for its Facebook page members. And in the six months since the launch, the page now has more than 1,450 members who regularly comment, "like" what is written there and take part in contests.

And while Homeenter didn't want to offer regular customer service on Facebook, which would be clumsy, inexpensive and inappropriate in terms of privacy Lorentzson says, the Facebook site does get the occasional question or comment related to service. "Naturally we answer them," she says. "But on Facebook we get more general comments about our delivery in general. We look at this as customer input that helps our product development. And of course some of it can be critical, but we have learned how to handle this."

For Homeenter's sister company, online retailer Discshop, its users are more active web consumers. So the Discshop Facebook page, which was launched shortly after Homeenter's, has a slightly different profile, with page members able to post themselves on the "wall" of the page. "We have our store on the net so our customers are already there from the beginning," says Cecilia Ekesparr, marketing coordinator at Discshop. "Our customers have long been asking for some kind of forum, and a lot of them are very interested in technology, film and games and think that it's interesting to talk about home cinemas, special editions of films and games, etc."

With such an active and net-savvy group, interaction came naturally. "We let our fans publicize their questions and comments on our Facebook wall, where we've chosen to respond to most of them; in the other cases we refer them directly to a customer service contact via telephone or mail," says Ekesparr. "A lot of the questions other fans answer as well, which we think means we've succeeded in creating a fun and lively site. And when specific customer service questions come up, we refer people to our customer service at this point."

While Ekesparr says that Discshop is still testing the waters, the marketing and use of the Facebook page is extensive. "We market the Facebook page at our website and in our newsletter," she says. "We also have a quiz with results published on the walls of those participating, so their friends see our site. Members can even choose to publish their purchases on our website and have it appear on their Facebook walls, so their friends can see exactly what they've bought. And we've given out gift certificates as we've reached 500 members, 1,000 members, 1,500 etc., which gets members to invite their friends."

While both Ekesparr and Lorentzson say that the Facebook pages are works in progress, it's difficult not to see the success of their efforts. "Our strategy is in principle that social media is a new channel and it needs to be taken as such," says Lorentzson. "That means it's part of our normal planning and activities for marketing and communication. It's all about watching and learning!"