Stuff I Learned From My Dog

Shadow gets a bath

This morning I was greeted rather heartily by my dog. Shadow is a five-year old Chocolate Lab, who is 95-pounds of pure A.D.D. And I’ve learned a lot from him about how we should maintain our online social communities and interact with community members.

Lesson 1: Exuberance – If I walk out of the house for just 30-seconds, on my return, Shadow greets me as if I had been gone 30-days! The lesson here is that this is how we should treat the members of our social community. When someone joins your community, greet them! Treat every member like an old friend you haven’t seen in a long time. These community members are your customers or potential customers. They all have varying levels of commitment to your community. You need to attract new people to your community while giving existing members a reason to stay. Exuberance about the community (and your business/organization) can go a long way.

Lesson 2: Engagement – Anytime someone visits, Shadow gets all up in their personal space and we have to recite our mantra, “Just pet him and give him some attention and he’ll settle down.” If someone is not really a “dog person” and they put their hands in their pockets, he’ll continue to poke his nose at them, just trying to make friends. And he WILL calm down eventually, IF they pet him. Ignoring him is not the answer. The same goes for our community members. Don’t ignore them. If they talk to you on Twitter, or comment on your blog or Facebook page wall, then engage them! Don’t put your hands in your pocket and look the other way. Social media is about a two-conversation…a dialogue. Each reply to someone engages them, and those around them. It is this that taps into the organic, viral nature of social media, and allows for growth.

Lesson 3: Customer Service – Recently Shadow came home from the kennel and we noticed he was scratching. Now I tend to be of the “If I ignore it, it will go away” school of thought. Not my wife. And she was the smart one. We investigated and discovered fleas. Not just on the dog, but everywhere. We initiated a lengthy full frontal offensive on the little buggers that involved multiple dog baths, heavy-duty flea and tick treatment, and the application of all sorts of flea sprays and powders to all the floors and furniture in the house.

If I had gone with my instinct, I’d be covered in flea bites and would be paying exorbitant fees to a pest control company. Instead, my wife diagnosed the problem and we went into full “customer service” gear. We addressed the issue, solved the problem, and we now have a much happier dog (and family).

When one of our community members utilizes social media channels to point out a problem, we can’t ignore it. By addressing that problem properly we not only have the chance to turn a dissatisfied customer into a satisfied one, but other community members get to witness the exchange first hand. Good customer service is one of the best uses of social media.

More lessons I’ve learned from Shadow coming soon…