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By B.L. Ochman
Ben & Jerry’s cheered me up – big-time- after some nasty oral surgery left me feeling like a hurting cowgirl this week. Then my website had a major issue, which led to some frustrating exchanges with my web host, MediaTemple. Tonight, they surprised and delighted me by sending me these beautiful flowers, and a lovely note.

MediaTemple_Flowers.jpgThese are two shining examples, my dear readers, of Social Customer Relationship Management (Social CRM) in action – managing the social presence of a brand to develop positive engagement across all platforms.
The bottom line: Brands create customer evangelists by sounding and acting like human beings.
Like a lot of smart brands, MediaTemple is monitoring its brand on Twitter, and providing lightening-fast response 24/7 when customers say they have problems.
A chain is only as strong as its weakest link
MediaTemple has been my host, and the company I’ve recommended to clients, for several years. That’s because you can always get a human on the phone.
While everyone I’ve encountered in tech support there has, over the years, been truly terrific, I got someone the other night who certainly wasn’t. I had a mouth full of stitches and a head full of pain medication, and I was in no mood to spar with unresponsive tech support.
MediaTemple’s Twitter team and Tech Support rapidly got out of the traditional marketing vs IT battleground – creating a consistent level of service across all levels of the company. And they solved my problem. Thanks guys!
2011: The year of Social CRM
Blame it on silos, or blame it on the slow speed of real change, but a lot of companies still have a hard time making their good intentions uniform.
My prediction for 2011 is that more companies will get the picture, and understand that really, truly, finally, now and forever, the days of the one-way corporate message are over.
Social media, social customer relationships, customers having a voice at every turn, are not new, not trends, not fads. They are facts. They are how companies need to do business now. C’mon in, the water’s fine.
Thank you Ben & Jerry’s & Media Temple! You Rock!
And thank you Ben & Jerry’s and MediaTemple for demonstrating how it’s done. I am honored, delighted, and happy to know you.
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