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1. Introduction
With the ever-changing world of technology, practices that businesses use have to keep
up with all the changes. One area of business that is affected by technology is customer service.
With so many people spending a majority of their free-time online and doing daily tasks such as
paying bills online, customer service is also expected to be online, particularly in terms of social
media. By examining Hootsuite Universitys lecture video, Customer Service in a Social World
hosted by Sharad Mohan, exploring the need for instruction in the topic of customer service and
social media, and by researching this topic, more will be known about the importance that this
topic plays in the business world of today.

2. History and Background

To truly understand Customer Service in a Social World, an explanation of the video
and the man behind it is needed. Describing the latter first, Sharad Mohan is the Director of
Customer Success at Hootsuite and is in charge of keeping customers interested and loyal to the
Hootsuite brand once they first use a product or service.
His lecture highlights five main points that provide tips for companies using social media
for customer service. First, Mohan explains the Three Guiding Priniciples. One, Were
everywhere, which means that there are multiple channels where a customer can find and
contact a company, such as Facebook, Email, and Twitter. This makes it easier for a customer to
locate the company and encourages an easier customer experience over all. Two, Were
available, which means to make sure that customer service can be given in a timely manner.
Social media needs to be checked often or a company will lose its customers. Mohan is quick to
clarify that this doesnt mean a company has to have 24/7 customer service, but that they have to
be available when they say they will be. He suggests putting the information of customer service

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availability where people can see it, such as in the Twitter bio of the company. The third guiding
principle is Were helping, as in one shouldnt send a customer away or tell him or her to try
somewhere else just because the employee responding isnt familiar with the inquired topic. One
must help the customer in any way possible, even if it is simply redirecting a tweet to another
department with a tag, (Mohan).
The second topic covered by Mohan was reactivity vs. proactivity. Reactivity is when a
company responses to a question or message that a customer has sent them. While it is important
to response to these correspondences, it is equally as important to seek out customers who need
help and havent contacted the company directlythis is an example of proactivity. Sharad
Mohan tells a story of how a customer had a bad experience with Hootsuite and made a blog post
about it. His team was able to contact the customer, solve the problem, and resulted in an
updated, happier blog post. The third topic discussed was having an escalation plan, which is
when to know when to take the customer off social media to better help them. At Hootsuite, if
they cannot help a customer within two tweets, they move the conversation to phone or email so
that more than 140 characters can be used to explain or resolve the issue. Mohans tip here is to
make sure that the information already given by the customer is known to the staff taking over
the issue on the new channel so that the customer doesnt have to repeat him or herself, (Mohan).

The final set of topics was a round-up of everything Sharad Mohan had covered
previously and then he ended with tips. First, Mohan suggests that a company considers having a
social media account that is dedicated to only customer service so that the customers know
exactly where to go and arent being bounced around to different departments when dealing with
a problem. Second, he reminds the company to always check their Facebook comments and

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message inbox for customer issues, even though this social media site is losing popularity. Third,
he stressed the importance of community forums, in which users post issues that they are having
and other users can chime in to help. It may be seem to be an archaic media platform, but it is
still important in the online customer service world, (Mohan). Sharad Mohan gave important
information for companies to remember as they have customer service online, all of which is
meant to make customers happy and keep them using the products and services provided.

3. Need for Instructional Module

This lecture video about customer service on social media is important to the study of
both college students and employees of companies. Regardless of the field of study, college
students are preparing to enter the professional world, a world that technology is rapidly
expanding in. While Business majors may be the ideal candidates, majority of places to work
have social media accounts, and the better versed one is in the art of social media, the better one
will be at helping the company. In addition, it is beneficial to have Professional Social Media
Knowledge on a resume when applying for jobs. For employees already in the workforce, the
tips presented are indispensable when dealing with customers in real-life situations. Also, even if
a business doesnt interact with customers directly, the same skills can be used when responding
to coworkers, other departments, and other companies on social media in a professional setting.
All in all, with customer service in social media, its better to know than not know the
information.

4. Basis in Scholarly Research for the Instruction

In their article, Customer Service in the United States, researchers F. Robert Buchanan
and M. Suzanne Clinton do a case study on the airline industry in order to study the customer
service situation in America. After looking through customer service experiences of various

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customers with various airlines, the article ultimately witnessed a significant level of mistrust of
customers towards big companies. It was reported that less than 5% of respondents [in a
Harris poll] in 2007 [found] oil, tobacco, and health care companies to be generally honest and
trustworthy. Insurance, pharmaceuticals, auto manufacturers, and airlines barely broke 10%,
(Buchanan). To connect this to Mohans video, if companies have a secure, reliable, and
personable online presence, they can build trust with their customers.
In another article, Michaela Geierhos explains that customers are more likely to share
problems that they have had with companies on their social media accounts than contacting the
company openly. Therefore, there needs to be a way that companies can monitor multiple social
media channels and their customers from one place, a customer interaction system, or CIM,
(Geierhos). Though Geierhos has a plan of her own, which the majority of the article details,
Hootsuite itself is a tool that allows companies to do just that, monitor their various social media
accounts from one place. Just as Mohan says, be everywhere on social media, which is possible
due to CIM like this.
Lastly, in a piece for the Journal of Database Marketing and Customer Strategy
Management, Matt Ramsay explores a case in 2009 where Toyota cars were having dangerous
malfunctions and customers were storming social media with complaints, yet they fell on deaf
ears as no one was being responded to. Toyota tried to take an avoidance approach that turned
out extremely negative. As Ramsay says, there is nowhere to hide online and the viral nature of
the channels mean that bad news not only spreads like wildfire but also lasts forever, (Ramsay).
Had Toyota taken a proactive approach to monitoring their customers social media habits and
not hidden from their problems, they would have avoided a nasty public relations situation and
could have prevented some damage to the brands reputation.

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5. Cases in the Popular Press which Link to the Need for this
Instruction
Online customer service is such a big issue that in 2013, Google started making
STELLAservice, a company that measures and reports customer service ratings of online stores,
available to its users so that they can look at how online stores that they want to shop at handle
their customer service. Google hopes to make shopping while using the Google Search Engine
easier for its customers and believes it will ensure that the customers have the best shopping
experience possible. Dana Gardner, a principal analyst, says that STELLAservice is different
from user-made reviews since an actual company with experience in the field is making the
evaluations which makes a notable difference to customers who want to be informed, (Weiss).
By providing a way for customers to be aware of professional ratings that companies get for their
customer service, STELLAservice is a vital tool in the online customer service world.
In addition, in 2014, WalkMe was established as a new way of handling customer service
online. The program is a way that customers can get tutorials, written by customer service
managers, that appear right on the screen to walk them step-by-step through an issue. The
software can be installed onto existing websites as a widget. Thus, when customers have an
issue, they simply type the issue into the search box, find the right tutorial for their issue, and
then information bubbles start appearing on the screen to tell the customers what to do. The
service is meant to work in tandem with live-call centers so if a customer does need addition
help, he or she can get it. WalkMe is meant to help the customer feel independent and solve his or
her own issue, while having a company save time and ultimately money on simple service calls
that customers can do by themselves, ("New Software To Revolutionize Online Customer
Service").

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Finally, at the end of 2014, Forbes Magazine reported that social service, customer
service via social media, is no longer a nice-to-have for companies; its a must-have. The
article comments on how different software is being constantly developed and changing the way
social service occurs. Twitter currently has a customer service feature that calls a person having
an issue and then the number gets automatically deactivated so that there is little informational
exchange and no extra paying for long-term phone services for the company, (Morgan). That fact
that using social media for customer service has an official name, social service, describes its
increasing significance in the industry.

6. Summary and Conclusion

The Internet is no longer a flat, Web 1.0 World. We are in an age of the interactivity of
Web 2.0. Companies who do not jump at the opportunity to connect with customers on social
media, while making the customer service experience an easy one are making a mistake. Sharad
Mohan of Hootsuite explains the importance of being active on social media to better assist
customers. The need for this information to be shared and learned is shown through the research,
both scholarly and popular, that supports the essentialness of having customer service be active
on social media. Social service is an emerging field and is still being explored; however, with
CIM tools like Hootsuite, companies can make the online transition easier.

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7. References
Works Cited
Buchanan, F. Robert, and M. Suzanne Clinton. "Customer Service In The United States."
Journal Of Behavioral & Applied Management 11.3 (2010): 279-303. Academic Search
Premier. Web. 15 May 2015.
Geierhos, Michaela. "Customer Interaction 2.0: Adopting Social Media as Customer Service
Channel." Journal of Advances in Information Technology [Online], 2.4 (2011): 222-233.
Web. 15 May. 2015
Mohan, Sharad. Customer Service in a Social World. Online video clip. Hootsuite University.
Hootsuite, Dec. 2012. Web. 15 May 2015.
Morgan, Blake. "Five Trends Shaping The Future Of Customer Service In 2015." Forbes. Forbes
Magazine, 22 Dec. 2014. Web. 17 May 2015.
"New Software To Revolutionize Online Customer Service." CRM Magazine 18.1 (2014):
WP16. Academic Search Premier. Web. 15 May 2015.
Ramsay, Matt. "Social Media Etiquette: A Guide and Checklist to the Benefits and Perils of
Social Marketing." Journal of Database Marketing & Customer Strategy Management
17.3-4 (2010): 257-61. Palgrave MacMillan. Web. 15 May 2015
Weiss, Todd R. "Google Revs Up Its Online Retail Efforts With Customer Service Ratings."
Eweek (2013): 3. Academic Search Premier. Web. 15 May 2015.