The shipment might not get here faster, and the kitchen won’t magically un-run out of something, but your attitude can make all the difference.

The answer is no. I just really like to give credit to people who are awesome. And I also like to call out those who, quite frankly, suck. I started this post a few weeks ago, after a particularly long, drawn-out and heinous customer service experience. Then I began to wonder if I was being too dramatic. So I stopped mid-post.

3 weeks later, same issue, same company, even more of a pain in the ass. So here you go NSTAR. This one’s for you.

Customer Service Impacts All Aspects of a Business

Customer service goes hand in hand with marketing, now more than ever thanks to social media. Word-of-mouth now includes Tweets, Facebook status updates, emails, IMs and text messages. Consumers have more places to voice their opinion, while Marketers have more channels to listen to. The end result is that when a company screws up, as every company will at some point, it’s more likely that people will hear about it.

Good Customer Service Means Good Marketing (Free of Charge)

Of course, the converse is also true: go above and beyond, and we will all be made aware as well. But it’s far more dangerous for a brand to risk pissing off the wrong person and having everyone hear about it online, printed, out in the open, and there for the taking by news outlets or competitors.

One of the biggest arenas where companies mess up is customer service. Everyone has a horror story, dating back long before the internet. The oft lampooned customer service reps really don’t stand a chance with the newly empowered class of social media users, especially given the ease and speed of posting a Tweet or status update.

Many companies have responded by upping their social media presence and trying to help so-called power users or influencers. And while it’s great that these people get help, it’s actually even more great for the brands, ‘cuz they get free advertising when these loud-mouthed social media users compliment them on their handling of the situation.

It’s Not Just Web Whining

Yes, people complain on Twitter. Newsflash, they also complain in line at the grocery store, on the phone to their friend, over drinks with a big group of people. Wouldn’t you rather know people are talking about you, and what they are saying you do poorly, than stay clueless? Here’s a hint: the answer should be yes.

What do people do when they call customer service? Complain. Or whine, whatever you want to call it. And the rep tries to fix the problem (at least they’re supposed to). Their goal is to make the customer happy. My mom taught me this long ago, before there was a Twitter or even an internet to gripe on. Hit “zero” until you get a person, tell them what you want and ask for a manager if they can’t do it.

That was then. This is now. If I want to tell my friends something, there’s a good chance it will end up on Facebook or Twitter. And if I want your attention, I might call. I also might Tweet. Times are changing, and businesses need to keep up if they want to stay in business.

AdAge asked:

“By rewarding complainers with lightning-fast responsiveness, are marketers training consumers to publicly flog them rather than take the discreet and often-frustrating route of calling customer service?”

Yes and no. We’ve already been trained to complain. Now we’re giving companies the opportunity to redeem themselves publicly and get credit for their customer service. If some companies don’t like the idea of offering help or support in a more public manner, then I think they’ve got something to hide.

Getting Back to Basics (2.0)

Ignoring social media channels is not a marketing strategy. Nor is it an effective customer service strategy. Your customers are out there, begging you to help them, and you’re leaving them stranded. A simple “we’re sorry” or “we’re trying” can go a long way.

The Good

Shopping site ideeli does a beautiful job of customer service, after a slightly rough start. And they have no become my favorite online retailer for it. When I have a problem, the phone reps are knowledgeable, and their Twitter team jumps right in to work with me where I spend most of my day. They go out of their way to make it better. That one mistake actually helped them in the long run, because of the way they handled it. I can’t say enough good things about them. On Twitter, on the phone, over drinks.

The Bad

Power provider NSTAR is another story. I’m getting married in November. So we threw an engagement party to celebrate. I got dressed up, all our best friends were there, we decorated and had tons of food. It was great. Until the power went out. No light to take pictures of all my pretty friends and decorations. No AC, so it got pretty sticky. We made the best of it, but eventually it got too hot to party and people left. Basically, NSTAR ruined my engagement party and robbed me of that experience.

I asked them to credit my account to help make it up to me. They said it was an unplanned outage, so they couldn’t do anything. Here’s my response:

“The very reason I want a credit is because it was an unplanned outage. Had you told me ahead of time, I could have planned accordingly. I was inconvenienced because it was NOT planned, which is why you SHOULD issue credits for unplanned outages, not planned ones. This wasn’t scheduled maintenance; it was a mistake. And when other service companies make a mistake, they fix it.

Online stores replace shirts and refund shipping; restaurants re-cook meals and often remove those charges from the bill. You don’t deal in tangible goods and couldn’t fix the power in a timely manner, so it seems to me the only way for you to remedy this situation is with a credit for part of the bill.”

The Ugly

Nothing, except for a sarcastic “congratulations on your engagement” from the head of their customer service department. Flash forward to this past weekend, when our power went out again when the same manhole cover literally blew up across the street. This time, I made Dan call. The customer service rep admitted it was NSTAR’s fault, and I’ve already submitted a claim for the food we lost. Let’s see if they’ve learned anything.

Whether you’re a marketer, customer service agent or business owner, I hope you’ve learned something too. Customer Service is not a phone bank. It’s being there for your customers. And if that means Twitter, than get Tweeting. Social media users are your customers, and they’re not going away or keeping quiet just because you’re not there to respond. We’re talking about you. So it’s time to listen.

I drove by the Boston Moonvertising billboard several times (it’s on my way to work) before I remembered to Google the term. I’ll admit I was duped into thinking some ridiculously cheesy advertising/technology company was going to try to buy/sell ad space on the moon. Yep, look up “gullible” and you’ll find my picture. In my defense, I drive too fast and don’t have the greatest eyesight, so I couldn’t really make out the logo.

But I did go to the site eventually, so their old-school outdoor ad worked. Kind of.

The Moonvertising site dropped the ball, in a lot of ways. It’s slow, kind of confusing, and not nearly as cool as I’d hoped. A lot of hype, not a lot of hip. I like where they’re going with the full moon parties, but they’re only in 3 states (I think; the scrolling action was really bad) and I’m not driving to Jersey for a beer I don’t really have any affinity for.

But, I love the Rolling Rock brand for trying, so I stayed on the site and hoped it delivered the cool factor I so desperately was waiting for. It didn’t. Just a few not-so-funny videos and the amusing realization that people think they are actually going to try to beam their logo onto the moon. With lasers. (Insert Austin Powers joke here.)

I love them for trying, and the creativity is great, but the website is disappointing, to say the least. They obviously wanted to create a viral campaign that would get people talking (there’s a lot of uncertainty about whether they will attempt a Moonvertisement on March 21st; my guess is no).

I’m still on the fence about QuarterLife, ‘cuz the main character, Dylan, is super annoying, at least to me. Totally think her Pilot Ep opener was one of the major reasons the show tanked on NBC and got pulled after that one episode. Watch it and try to tell me that doesn’t make you want to change the channel. Online you can skip or jump around; on TV, you’re stuck cringing (unless you had the forethought to DVR the show) or changing the channel. And that was a death sentence for QuarterLife. Bye-bye internet-TV crossover.

I don’t actually watch Lost, but they do some cool stuff with the internet, including fictional sites that pretend Oceanic 815 is a real plane (and airline), provide clues and further the show. There’s also a Lostpedia and an Alternate Reality Game (ARG), stuff that’s way over my head but reminds me of my brief obsession with LonelyGirl15.

Greek is a cheesy ABC Family show that I forgot to watch after one or two episodes. However, it’s back for Season 2 so I guess they didn’t need my viewership. It’s of interest to me not so much for the quality of the program (Scott Michael Foster is a cutie though, and very lovable on QuarterLife) but its internet tie-in, VirtualRush, where you can “rush” online and interact with the show.

LipStick Jungle is my only “must-see-TV” right now, but not for any great internet relevance, more on the marketing side. Maybelline is doing an old-school sponsorship promotion (“presented by” and all that) and plugging their new products–hard–in the most flagrant product placement I’ve ever seen. However, I think LipStick Jungle has huge potential in this niche, if they can just tone it down a little. Nearly everything mentioned in Sex & the City took off; at least a little of that magic must be left.

Coincidently, Quarterlife is doing some great product placement with Toyota Scions. Moral of this post? Everything can be traced back to QuarterLife? Not quite, but I respect what the creators are trying to do. And if you can make me watch despite wanting to smack your main character, that’s saying something.

Geek Flirt is offering free Geek Flirt lip gloss to new users who sign up now. I joined, since I recently came out as a geek, and the packaging on the gloss is really cute. It’s cherry flavored, which I usually don’t like (I’m a mint girl), but this one doesn’t taste like cough syrup so it’s good.

The GeekFlirter Facebook App (sign in to Facebook to add) and Geek Flirt Lolcat Maker are fun little additions to the site, so even if you don’t find your geek god or goddess, it’s still fun. Check it out, Digg the promotion and get a free GeekGloss that promises to make your dates “end a little bit smoother.”

Oh yeah, and I helped come up with the idea, so if those weren’t enough reasons, do it to support my ego.

Every year, retailers cash in on philanthropic females with a propensity for pink. Call me cynical if you want, but 10% of proceeds for one month on one randomly rose-hued item is not a very sizeable charitable contribution for most major brands. So really what they’re doing is making a whole bunch of normal stuff pink to designate them as breast cancer donation items, when in fact they are simply marketing to a large segment of the population who will buy anything because it’s pink, and have been tricked into thinking they are supporting a good cause.

So that’s my issue with using breast cancer to sell useless consumer products. Now, on to a much better use of your hard-earned money and our beloved internet-the Design-her-Gals Virtual Breast Cancer Walk. This walk benefits the Gal to Gal Foundation, which uses the funds to improve the lives of women diagnosed with Stage IV breast cancer, the most advanced and invasive type of breast cancer.

The Gal-to-Gal walk does several things very well, for fundraising and for the internet. First, they kept the donation low-$3 to register, with the option to donate more. Definitely doable for anybody with internet access.

Second, they created a virtual event, one of the next big things for the internet. These are really cool when they’re done well, really easy and very viral. Basically, a marketing hat trick. I’ve been pushing one of these types of events at the 9-to-5er, and this walk definitely validated my ideas.

Third, they made the site highly interactive and fun, encouraging people to come back every day to learn trivia on the city they’re “walking” through and search for friends, real or virtual. Both of these features give the site high word of mouth potential, which also raises their fundraising potential.

Finally, Gal-to-Gal cashed in on the avatar craze, a key part of any virtual event. Designing a little mini-you is fun; just look at the popularity of the South Park character generator or the Simpsons avatar creator. People love to look at themselves, and this is just another expression of that. Or, you can think of it as paper dolls for grown ups.

Either way, anything that lets people create virtual versions of themselves is almost sure to be a hit. Combine that with some social interaction and a cause people can get behind, and you have a nearly sure-fire marketing plan. The true test is whether it works in the real…er, virtual…world.

Enter the internet (I know, surprise, surprise, right?) and the wonderful world of viral and word of mouth marketing. The internet allows (really, demands) so many more types of media than print or television advertising can present. Potential customers and clients can interact with current users and explore new products before they commit to them, taking the “try it before you buy it” gimmick to a whole new level.

The challenge is finding a way to present something that is not inherently fun, or interesting, or sexy in a way that makes it seem like that is exactly what it is; internet advertising is all about covertly shaping perceptions. Sure, this is what all advertising tries to do, but good internet marketing sneaks in the side door, where traditional advertising just keeps banging away at the front like everyone else.

Take Kraft Easy Mac for example. Macaroni and Cheese (well-known and loved, but boring) that can be microwaved (quick and delicious, but par for the course in today’s instant gratification, no-effort-please culture). Definitely not sexy, or even particularly fun after the first time. However, DraftFCB were able to help propel Easy Mac from ho-hum microwaveable munchies to highly interactive internet entertainment.

The U-Starvin website is specifically aimed at college students, who are known to be microwave masters. The site allows visitors to virtually microwave all the stuff your mother always told you not to, like crayons, marshmallows and…a pineapple? Whatever mom told you (or didn’t), the site is pretty cool and a much safer way to experiment (if you don’t have infinite time to waste, at least nuke the foam and Christmas lights, they’re worth watching).

Kraft went even further in targeting this demographic by partnering with CollegeHumour.com for a series of “Really Frugal Gourmet” webisodes. These didn’t have the staying power of the U-Starvin site, I think because they brought the focus back to the product and are too commercial-y. The draw of the U-Starvin campaign (if you can call it that) is that it completely ignores the product and gives the target something fun to do and watch, instead of offering just another boring ad.

The genius of Kraft and DraftFCB, and any other successful WOMM attempt, is that they realized their product was nothing new or exciting, yet managed to create something that people could, and would, talk about. Viral marketing is all about twisting the expected into the unexpected and turning tired old advertising on its head. This was critical for Easy Mac, whose target was the young and over-advertised, and they succeeded beautifully by making an entire website that it one big promotion, without seeming like it at all.

Older generations bash Facebook because they just don’t get it and feel left out by the culture it has created (like in the Dave Walker cartoon at right); in response, they hold on even tighter to old methods that won’t work for much longer. I know I have a personal bias towards Facebook, but beyond my own adoration for this obsessive time-waster turned marketing gem, I honestly believe Mark Zuckerberg’s creation is revolutionizing social media and word of mouth marketing (WOMM).

Just look at all the new ideas coming out around Facebook every day: Stanford will now offer a classon Facebook App development, raising the bar for all new profile pimping programs; Google will begin indexing profiles much like MySpace; and Facebook has finally realized it’s place in targeted marketing with a new advertising scheme that is poised to change the way advertisers use the web.

This last piece of news is a few weeks old, which, to me, only makes anti-Facebook rants more amusing. As a BU alum, the first non-Ivy to join Facebook, and long time Facebook user (that’s my CartoonYou self at left), I can boast that my profile ID# is under the 1 million mark), I’ve seen just how powerful this website can be. When Facebook first started opening up, there were two opposing views: the skeptics who saw no value or amusement in it (not me) and the awed undergrads with penchants for procrastination (definitely me).

With 85% of college students now using Facebook, it’s clear that most students eventually came around (or graduated and gave up). But for those of us who watched it grow from the ground up, Facebook is not a new phenomenon, but a social network that realized its potential and came into its own.

When companies finally come around, anyone who took a chance early on and listened to “some kid” about the opportunities that Facebook presents will be way ahead of the curve. My advice to anyone looking for a cool, new way to get your message out there is to listen to those of us who’ve been there from the beginning-we knew it was coming, Facebook just had to catch up.

Robert Scoble has been knocked for spending too much time on Facebook, by people who I assume don’t understand how powerful of a business tool this social network can be. Scoble says that he “hope[s] they stay in the dark,” but I disagree.

When a large group of non-believers try to demean the legitimacy of Facebook’s influence, they also devalue the people who use this network for marketing and hiring or recruiting. While I don’t think they need (or probably could) become devout Facebook converts, I do believe that it is time that everyone recognized Facebook for the tremendous power it has.

Facebook has surpassed MySpace in terms of “coolness” and usability, adding an insane amount of features through Facebook Apps. With the exception of profile backgrounds, everything that Myspace offers is now available on Facebook, and it’s usually faster, easier and more customizable. There are also tons of features that MySpace doesn’t even come close to competing on, such as iLike, a song challenge that tests users aural ability and music knowledge, then ranks them against their friends and the rest of the Facebook community.

As a marketing tool, Facebook is genius. The Facebook profile form encourages users to “tell all,” creating a clearly defined audience that is a marketer’s dream. Anyone can create a Facebook “App,” or application, that adds cool functionality to the user’s profile and allows them to interact with the app’s other users. I anticipate Facebook App development becoming a crucial part of many marketing plans very soon. If a company can develop one of these free apps that is cool enough to be picked up by heavy Facebook users, and unique enough to distinguish their product, they’ve got huge viral marketing potential.

Facebook also plays a very powerful role in the business world. An active “Facebooker” will include enough information in their profile to make it seem like you know them, before you’ve even spoken. To a potential employer, this is a hiring goldmine. Facebook encourages users to reveal personal details well beyond the standard academic major and degree information found in a resume or cover letter. Photos, lengthy likes and dislikes lists and personal commenting features provide a very telling description of a candidate as both a person and an employee. The screencap at left shows just how much information you can cram into a page…and how much anyone can find out about you.

Any product, person, store or service looking to target the 15-25 age range better warm up to Facebook—and fast. Don’t believe me? Check out my profile to see just how much you can find out about someone. If you still think it’s a silly waste of time, you’ve already been left behind.