I stumbled across one of those user-facilitated Facebook groups, where eager customers take the roles of customer service and promoter upon themselves. This must be the wet dream of any business, and I’m guessing that marketing people itch to tamper and get the ball rolling just a little faster. Professional involvement, however, may stop the ball dead in it’s tracks – stripping the initiative off its rare credibility and heartfelt enthusiasm.
Just imagine if your customers spontaneously and on their own accord create a group where they discuss and evaluate your brand (for better or worse) and help each other to the best user experience of your particular product.
I recently became the proud owner of a Garmin GPS sport watch, and a new world of knowledge and inpiration opened up to me. Garmin is very engaged with events dealer level, lots of videos on Youtube and route inspiration on their home page. But, what surprised me was the incredible number of communities where customer share tips and experiences. And heck if there isn’t an entire Facebook group specifically for my model. In fact, there are individual Facebook groups for each of Garmins sport watches – the largest with over extremely active 13.000 members.
In these customer-driven communities, users happily take charge of:
- Trouble shooting and problem fixing
- Inspiration with regards to use, functions and apps
And, they don’t miss a chance to praise product and customer service. This is customer engagement at is core. It’s not for sale, but what can we do to earn it?
