Customer Service: New Rules for a Social-Enabled World (Que Biz-Tech)

Pete Shankman's brand is all about helping people and this book follows that tradition first started by Help A Reporter Out. I'm a big HARO fan, so I was eager to read this book right when it came out (though I've been quite disappointed with HARO lately because of customer service).This isn't written by someone who talks about social media and leads expensive motivational seminars, but by someone who does Social Media and is immanently successful at it. Through use of personal and industry anecdotes, Shankman lays the ground work for decision makers to see the value of Social Media and more importantly, the risks of not getting involved in it. The fact is that Social Media impacts every brand and industry, the only question becomes the degree and your impact.The book assumes a basic understanding of social media tools such as Facebook and Twitter and specifically applies them to serving your customers and potential customers. If you are already doing customer service via Social Media, you'll find this book more of a review of what you already while providing a few specific insights and jumping points for ideas. The audience of this book is a decision maker who needs a business case and budgeting for a social media team.As a board member of my local Social Media Club, this is a book I often recommend to curious business leaders wanting to do "that Facebook and Twitter thing". I might even use a few of his tips and tricks to solve some of my Help A Reporter Out problems!

I read this book when I went to work for a company that offers a complete platform of social media tools. While they are a technology company, they recognize the importance of community management tactics to motivate people to use those tools. One strategy they focus on is building off of the community's current usage of Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter to establish their own social media platform where they then own the data. I read Peter Shankman's book to learn more about this transition from current social media usage to more sophisticated social programs.I liked how Shankman uses social tools to expand and accelerate customer service activities that he was doing already. In that way his recommendations are very organic. He emphasizes the importance of familiarity and making customers comfortable by starting with tools and sites they use already ... then gradually moving them to more interactive behaviors until you have online dialogue and 2-way communication.I liked this book because of that focus on moving from the familiar to newer tools and behaviors. So often organizations fall in love with their new website designs and technologies but wonder why customers don't automatically move to that new platform. Shankman lays out a more common sense process here that enables customers to transition at their own pace.

As a counselor, trainer, and author, I wasn't sure if this book would be a great help for me. But I quickly learned that there is a ton of good information about customer service. Information that I've never learned and probably would have made many mistakes. The biggest thing: Don't worry so much about the technology, worry about the message!

Most people, despite playing in social media, have very little understanding of just how powerful this tool can be for an individual or business to market themselves.What I like about Shankman is that he takes the current "cool" tools (social media and technology) and shows how they can be used to enhance the true important things, customer service and relationships. Without already having good customer skills, social media will not help a business.Nice blending of tech and touch...

The book is easy to read and filled with practical advice for both small businesses and large organizations. The ROI from me reading this book is huge.

If you work with clients, people or social media, this is for you, great book. I read it in a day.

Author is a ego maniac who does not practice what he preaches!

Peter Shankman's new book, Customer Service: New Rules for a Social Media World, is a fast, informative read that provides endlessly fresh ideas on how to harness the power of social media to grow customer loyalty. Every tip Shankman offers will make you slap your hand against your head and say, "Why didn't I think of that?" His recommendations on ways to use social media to build followers are deceptively obvious which makes them easy to grasp and make you realize that yes, you can do them, too!Written in Shankman's easy, breezy style, Customer Service is a tremendous resource for business owners. I felt that a lot of the content is geared to retailers but the concepts can be applied to most service providers as well. He assumes the reader has a grasp of more than just the basics of the most popular social networks and how they can work to the business owner's advantage. Therefore, if you are a true neophyte to social networking and not yet sure about tweets or hashtags, I suggest you wait a while before plunging in here. But if you have already established your accounts and are comfortable using them, you should definitely read this book and start implementing some of Shankman's suggestions right away. He shows the reader how to make customers into "addicts online" and follows that chapter up with how to "keep the addiction going."I found the book to be of tremendous value for its accessibility, fresh thinking, and great ideas on every page on how to incorporate social media techniques into positive customer interactions online. Whether responding to a complaint or building a fan base, Shankman has an answer to pretty much any customer scenario. Read this book and then go forth and conquer!

I run a couple of online businesses and thought this may give me a few helpful pointers.I was right - packed with various handy ideas that I implemented, adapted and still use many months later.Well worth a read.

Interesting book but several pages have printing issues.

I really enjoyed this book and shared many passages with my team who deal with customers on a daily basis.Social media is at the forefront, with regards to customers and companies need to rethink how they deal withclients.. so this is a must read....