It might be an idea to think....

... before you send out a newsletter or reply to a ticket. Yes, these ARE related if you can bear with me for just a minute.

A 'company' that we deal with send out a newsletter today. I have mentioned this company before; well, ranted about the bloody people time after time is a bit more accurate, actually.

And what fun, here I go again :)

But this is a good one. We have a phrase we use here to describe actions which are totally beyond the comprehension of anyone with half a brain. I can't tell you what is because this is a family show (or at least, it would be in anyone other than Gayle ever read it). But it begins with "new heights of" and ends with "{deleted}-wittery".

So then, I receive the newsletter. Here's what it 'told' me. 

Social Media Means Social Networking 

Social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter, have become great resources for finding new customers. But to get these networks (especially Twitter) to work to your advantage, networking is crucial. Your clients should search for companies with similar interests and support them by "following" them or "liking" them. The idea is that those companies will return the favor — ultimately leading traffic to both sites, and helping each company grow. 

All well and good, you might say. A little odd, but still.

Well, my previous rants about this so-called company are usually about their total, absolute, complete and utter lack of customer service. (Yes, them! Now Gayle knows who I'm taking about, don't you, Gayle?) So I thought that this was a wonderful thing. "Now," I thought, "I can pester them and insult them and totally revile them and tell them how bloody useless they are via Twitter. In public. Brilliant". (And then I rubbed my hands together gleefully)

Google however, couldn't find their Twitter account. It wasn't linked from their website. It wasn't mentioned anywhere.

Undaunted, I went to their bollocky, slow-loading, confusing, nursery-school-coloured, daft-iconed, stupid ticket damned system and told them politely (yes, I can be polite sometimes) that I was delighted to hear that they had extended their customer service and support operations to include social media and that I'd be really, really, really grateful if they could post the URLs of their Facebook and Twitter pages.

This was their response:

Hello, 

Thank you for contacting support. Our Facebook.com page is in the works and we can be found on Twitter at http://twitter.com/{their company name}. 

Please let us know if you are still experiencing problems, or if we can help you in any other way.   

That last sentence is a bit bizarre but let's ignore that.

OK. We've been dealing with this company since 1999. You'd have thought that they'd had ample time to get their Facebook page ready by now, wouldn't you? (Or as they describe it, their Facebook.com page). 

But never mind, we don't have a Facebook page either. This is mainly because I have a severe phobia about people who are waiting for their chicken to lay eggs, are looking for a new barn or who want me to be in their Mafia whatever-it-is.

Also, blue is my least favourite colour. So Facebook irritates me a lot.

Twitter is a different matter though. So, I went to their Twitter page.

Sixty three followers.
Sixteen tweets.
No bio.
No location.
No background. 
No conversation.

And they are sending me emails telling me how to behave on social media.

I have yet to decide how to respond ...  oh, but it's going to be one of my best.

 

  

Comments

[Gayle]

Even before reading I knew who it was. They have been named once before I seem to remember! I wonder why they don't mention their URL to twitter... Oh the tweets we could send :)

[Karl City Sylvester]

Lol. Why was this so fun to read?