For brands, Twitter is rapidly becoming a vehicle for much more than marketing. The other day, I had an experience that illustrated just how important it is for customer service as well.

I was shopping around for a new wireless plan – not just for the best plan, but for the best customer service.

Here’s what happened. I called Verizon first. After wading through the prompts, I selected “I’m not a customer,” and within a few seconds I was talking to a Verizon sales representative. All went well. At the end of the call I was honest and said I was shopping around and I’d call back. The rep said, “I’m sure you’ll find we have the best service.” I laughed, appreciating the confidence.

I then called AT&T and went through twice as many prompts, finally selecting “I’m not a customer.” Then I waited, and waited … and about 10 minutes later the call disconnected. I blame that on T-Mobile. So I don’t quite know how their customer service would be, but I wondered, “Don’t they want new customers? Why put a potential customer on hold?”

Turning To Social Media

After sitting on hold, I turned to social media to test their customer service through Twitter.  I wanted to see what, if any, response I would get, or if the competition would pick up on it and try to win me over. One hour later, almost simultaneously I heard back from Verizon and AT&T. Notice how the AT&T tweet says, “DM me your acct & contact info.” Wait, didn’t I just say I was NOT a customer?

So, my read on this is this (and I’m pretty confident I’m on to something here) – the Verizon social media rep customized the answer based on my tweet (although I’m sure the last sentence was scripted) while the ATT rep (or robot) just plugged in the script. I do give props to AT&T for having a personalized setup (image, name and bio), but that may not be enough to create a real connection with their audiences, when what matters most, “being real,” is missing.

Social media conversations, just like in-person conversations, are constructed of words that have meaning within the context of the exchange. Robots and scripts ignore or don’t get context altogether, as ATTTeamSusan’s response did.

Paying attention to context is critical in building credibility with customers and leads. Paying attention to context shows you’re listening. And particularly when someone complains online, or asks a question, listening is the most effective action you can take.

Take the example of the Wisconsin Public Service. During a Door County power outage last year, they used Twitter to update customers (those who still had power on their cells) on the status of returning power. Typically we don’t think of a utility company as sexy enough to be on Twitter. But when they listen and help, even a utility company can be sexy.

So ditch the scripts, pause the robots – listen, emphathise and present a solution. Be Twitter sexy!