I can’t think of anything good about it.
On a personal level, it’s really annoyed me. First, I had to write an extra email that, had the @Bigpondteam not teased me with their tweet, I could have avoided. Second, after our brief tweet-a-tweet, I still had to send my request to them by snail mail. And last, but certainly not least, it hasn’t really helped me solve my Bigpond problem.
Tip #1: Understand your customers
Why didn’t they do any basic research before following and tweeting at me? Why didn’t they look at who I follow, and who’s following me?
I’m wondering how they just plain didn’t notice that the Tweetosphere is rife with savvy, and very articulate, social media observers just looking for a case study such as this…
It’s being played out to that effect. Analysis of Bigpond’s tweet effort has been tweeted and re-tweeted around the traps and has, of course, spread to the (echoing) boulevards of blogsville. The recurring theme seems to be about how brands should not conduct themselves on Twitter.
My question for Bigpond is simple: Why Twitter? What customer needs are you fulfilling? Think about it and get back to me. On Twitter please.
(More about this in an excellent post by Lid here)
16 Comments:
Yes, indeed. I think, so far, their Twitter escapade is more a case of 'just because you can, doesn't mean you should'.
Handcuffs in social media really mean Bigpond should redefine their role on Twitter - perhaps showing people cool stuff to download, good Bigpond tools, etc... rather than just another inept service channel, a feedback loop.
37 Signals do a good job of (at least) 2 Twitter accounts - one for their brand and one for service.
Hi Mark
Absolutely and exactly!
It strikes me as such an odd choice of channel for the particular one-size-fits-all message they've been tweeting.
In contrast, I really like your idea of cool downloads and good BigPond tools. Of course, they'd have to make them pretty good for people to follow, but therein would lie the value!
Thanks for your comment.
Absolutely. Quite strange but I'm sure they'll work it out. Keen to see what iinet does on Twitter. Noticed they're on but not fully active yet.
If I was Bigpond, I'd use Twitter to test innovative, fast-expire offers, exclusive content downloads, tools + research + statistics for Marketing/Tech bloggers with the objective of garnering positive WOM and linkbacks.
Mark
Great ideas! Huge value adds like these would really give the brand a fresh and helpful point of difference.
I too like Mark's ideas - I was thinking though - doesn't BigPond have a 'news' section on its site?
Wouldn't it be nice if they tweeted some of their tech news - or Australian news (Twitterland is missing a real Aussie presence) they could just make a go of it. Especially if they broke up their @ replies with links to neat content. If it's on their news site - surely it has already been OK'd by the legal/pr folk?
Just yet another thought...
Hi Lid
: )
I agree: some useful tweeting would be great!
Julian Cole has posted some interesting thoughts on legality issues over at Adspace Pioneers:
http://adspace-pioneers.blogspot.com/2008/10/bigpond-on-twitter-is-legal-issue.html
Good debate here.. Mark I think your ideas are spot on.
Another thought would be for BP to use Twitter as an aggregator for live updates from the myriad of their sporting, community and arts sponsorships.
I have no doubt there could be a fresh bit of content every couple hours (even a "working on..." or "next week we are supporting..." tweet).
The sad thing is that all this content is already on their various content channels where nobody sees it.
I think you've started something really big here. Well done!
These legal issues could go beyond Twitter, into blogging, social networks, YouTube... and more! It will be interesting to see how this plays out I think.
Great little case study.
Sam: Thanks for adding your thoughts: again, some really useful tips for BigPond. I think it's a great opportunity for them to think about the fit between their message and any particular channel.
And Zac: It is, indeed, a great little case study! Probably not quite what BigPond had in mind, but nevertheless… : P
mmmyep, finding @bigpond on twitter is like your daggy uncle asking if he can please come to your awesome birthday party at the exclusive nightclub, or the Vatican running late-night infomercials - some venues just aren't appropriate for your brand.
nobody expects or wants bigpond to be a hip, happening and with-it brand outside the brand marketing team at bigpond. i think we all want bigpond to remain safe, boring and relatively conservative. we'd all like them to improve the quality and the customer service usually associated with their offering.
we want to feel we can trust our daggy uncle when we need to depend on someone who won't let us down, who'll always be there in the lean times as well as the good, who'll always be slightly behind the leading edge because that's a safe and secure place to be.
meanwhile, this particular daggy uncle appears to have given up trying to cadge an E off us but only in order to hit on our best friend. this cannot end well.
Hi Alan
I love this: it's a perfect analogy!
I agree with your conclusion too. It'll end in tears.
: P
Funny analogy, Alan.
You can see how they've started changing their approach (links to images):
Not so good - mid September 2008
Working it out - late September 2008
Nearly there - early October 2008
This can end (or simply evolve) well for Bigpond but 'customer service on Twitter' is surely not the best use of Twitter for their brand or business - not exclusively, not now.
It would be an interesting strategy for a business to deliberately try to get social media wrong, get a bunch of negative attention then turn it around and get more attention for doing a good job. Result = plenty of linkbacks, plenty of discussion, pats on the back for doing it well. Interesting - but slightly evil.
I cannot help but think your problems with Bigpond might be better served by, frankly, finding a better ISP.
I've seen many blog posts and suggestions regarding Bigpond's involvement on twitter (as well their other misadventures - such as branding Uluru on Second Life).
I've also seen a particularly diligent and amicable Telstra employee go around and 'make nice' in blog comments, too.
I really believe, as consumers, if we believe in good service and expect it... we really must demand it by going elsewhere when appropriate. An email or a tweet might communicate something, but a significant drop in customers would REALLY send a message.
My guess is that some bright spark at Telstra heard about @comcastcares, thought "brilliant, we could do that", but didn't really think it though.
John - you're right. I've really had enough banging my head against the Big brick wall. Time to take better ISP action.
Sean - they soooo obviously didn't think it through.
I've noticed iinet twittering away in a totally different way (non-annoying, non-contrived, bit of a personality, etc).
Interestingly, they don't follow people...just other providers. Smart.
And Mark - great links. Thank you!
Post a Comment