Social Media Case Study: Microsoft

[image error]Situation:

Microsoft was facing severe customer issues.  Their partner base had ballooned to 180,000 and they were facing support and satisfaction issues.  Based on an internal survey they conducted, 64% of their partners were less than satisfied and another 62% wanted better support and information.  Furthermore, the survey revealed the perception from their global partners was that Microsoft didn't care enough, provided minimal proactive communication, and treated their partners as an afterthought.*

Action:

They decided to take the conversation to where their partners and customers were; social media.  They used social to allow for questions and comments, creating an environment where there could be a free exchange of information and rich dialogues.

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Twitter was a big hit; they used deep links to drop their support customers directly into actual answers to common questions and issues.  They setup blogs to give another avenue for the free flow of information.  It was important to allow their partners to select how and where they interacted.   They also allowed their users to select the language they wanted to read and interact in, another big hit within their vast global community.

Another key action was monitoring and reacting to feedback and results.  Content and social strategy is fluid, you need to continuously 'read and react' to ensure that you are being efficient with your communication and information.

Result:

As a result they saw a 15% lift in their satisfaction ratings in the first year and a 17% lift in the second year.  They were successful in driving their users to their main service internet site ("Home Base"), seeing a 400% increase in traffic.  This success resulted in a 30% drop in call service volume.  They also witnessed a 54% YOY growth in their social media engagement.*

Key Learnings:

Give them options:  Let your partners and customers choose how and where they want to interact
Be authentic:  Sometimes you need to admit your mistakes and be forward and honest.  Ensure your employees recognize that they are representing the brand and not themselves.
Develop a kinship:  Sometimes you need to let your partner lead.  You need to show up in both the good times and the bad times.
Deep links to resources:  Provide one click access to commonly requested information; it will save you and your customer's valuable time.
Social and content strategy is fluid:  You are never really done, monitoring and strategy shifts are needed.  But make sure to celebrate milestones along the way, build on your successes.

*Information and statistics as presented at the iStrategy Conference Atlanta, 09/13/11, Katrina Klier, Microsoft, Sr. director worldwide digital engagement
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