I recently wrote a blog about Best Buy's newest customer service support via Twitter (Twelpforce) and later discovered that maybe it wasn't all butterflies as it seemed.
After reading about Twelpforce and then discussing it among friends, I got a lot of feedback about the potential dangers of social media & customer service.
One person mentioned that having customer service available online eliminates the need for in store customer service, which in a way weakens the relationship between seller and buyer.
He further explained that consumers who are genuinely loyal to a company have become that way, not only because of repetition, but because that company elicited some sort of emotional response from them.
An emotional response which is more easily conveyed between two humans...
directly, without the use of a middleman (the internet).
Pretty much what I got from him was that while online websites do play a major role in social influence on consumers, and potential consumers, certain aspects of direct human interaction need to remain evident and alive.
As long as Twelpforce can promote, or as my friend stated, "elicit emotional responses" from social media customers, the loyalty will remain and the relationship will not weaken.
The trick is to not necessary eliminate face to face connection through the use of social media, but mimic the same face to face connection via social media.
While social media may be the best way for a company to influence consumer behavior, if not done with care and caution, the end result may not be one which was anticipated.