The Real Bruce

I spend all day working on a computer. Saving files, sending email; the usual. As I went about my daily routine today, I realized how much we have become dependent upon the “cloud”. Whether it is email, our personal finances, or even saving files, more and more we are relying on the cloud for our computing needs.

It has almost snuck up on us. Slowly but surely we have become more dependent on this magical cloud out there. It supplies our storage, our applications and soon all of our computing needs. I can envision a day where all we have are Internet appliances. No desktops will be needed. All of our computing needs will reside in the cloud.

Does this scare you at all? It does me. We are putting a tremendous amount of trust in the companies out there. There is Dropbox, Google, Mozy, not to mention the millions of applications now available online. All of our data floating out there, somewhere.

What happens if our connection to the Internet is lost? What happens if one of these companies goes out of business overnight? We have seen this happen in the Internet age. Web sites here one day gone tomorrow. How do we know who to trust? Who will be around? Who will securely house all of our precious 1’s and 0’s?

I love the convenience of these services. It is great to be on my laptop, at any coffee shop, and being able to access all my important files and info. I can conduct business from anywhere. How great is that?

As we move forward, more and more relying on this magical cloud, how comfortable will you be? I would love to hear your comments and thoughts on the matter.

While I may use these services each and every day, at least for now, I will always have a terabyte hard drive, stored at my house, backing up each and every file.

Last night I experienced the power of social media first hand, and it came from a very unlikely source, General Motors. Yes, that’s right. The company that just months ago was working through a bankruptcy is now using social media to improve their customer service.

Here is what happened. Yesterday my service stabilitrak light came on in my Trailblazer. Since I am not a car expert, I had no idea what this meant. I called my local Chevy dealership and made an appointment to get it looked at, but from that point, a huge knot began to grow in my stomach.

What kind of cost would I be looking at? Would this be under warranty? Is this a big deal?

With all these questions in mind, I headed to the fountain of information, Twitter. I posted a simple message asking my followers if they had ever had this problem and would it be expensive. I used the # tag when mentioning Chevy, hoping to get multiple opinions.

Within 5 minutes of my tweet, I received a Direct message from @GMCustomerSvc asking me to direct message him with more info, so he could help me. I was amazed, not only with the speed of this reply, but also that he offered to help me.

Over the next few minutes we exchanged tweets, but we soon found it cumbersome to limit our messages to Twitter’s 140 character limit. That is when my new GM buddy asked me to switch our conversation toFacebook. He sent me a friend request, and within seconds, we were chatting away about my situation.

At the end of the evening, Jared the GM Twitter Specialist had confirmed my appointment, assigned me a follow up case number and verified that the Stabilitrak was not under warranty. As much as that news disappointed me, I was happy at the service I had received.

This whole episode really illustrates the power of Twitter and the way social media can be used to improve your customer service. Instead of me going to my appointment today already worried and dreading the wait, I was armed with information, comforted that someone cared and confident that I would get good service.

How can you use social media to improve your business? Can you interact with customers through social media?

Most of us love to talk. We want to be stars or the center of attention. That is why we love Social Media. We love to tell people what we are doing and what is important to us. We also all believe that people actually care.

With that in mind as businesses, it gives us a fantastic opportunity, TO LISTEN. With all of these followers, friends and fans, we have access to a huge database of information, thoughts and ideas. Best of all, these thoughts come from people who are interested enough to have made the initial connection.

We now have, at our fingertips, information that has never been available before. Instant updates as to when someone might be hungry or when someone is out shopping. We can know if someone is looking for a new car, or just ate at the restaurant we own. If we just take the time to listen, we can learn a lot.

After listening, we need to act, of course. Thank the customers for their business, send them a link to a car you sell, or invite them to your next function to get to know them better.

There are many tools out there that make the listening easier and can help you interact better, but the main point is to listen. Social media is a very powerful tool, but sometimes we use it incorrectly. Try changing your approach–Talk less and listen more. It will pay you dividends.

This is one of my favorite videos. It really shows the way social media is exploding. Check it out.

I know I have done a terrible job with keeping my blog up to date. However, I have made a promise to myself to do better. Please be ready for the new and improved Real Bruce web site coming soon.