On Twitter and Listening

August 18, 2008 · Comments

spinvox Several months ago, Christopher S. Penn told me that I should use SpinVox to convert my voicemail into text. I thought it was a good idea, but I was using another product entirely for another different reason. But the other day, I tweeted something on Twitter about deleting hundreds un-listened-to (what’s the right way to say that?) voice mails. It was just me blabbing into the wind that I had too many voicemails and had decided to throw them away.


Except that James Whatley was listening. It turns out that the @whatleydude is also the “social media chap” for SpinVox, and while other people offered me a kind and understanding, “Dude, that’s a lot of voice mail,” James heard opportunity. (There’s word that Pat Phelan had something to do with this, too, but that’s unsubstantiated).

James set me up with a trial SpinVox account, sent me the information (customized for me) on how to configure my account for my specific carrier, and got me on my way. I set the service up in a few minutes, and then had my wife make a few test calls. It’s pretty cool.

As a review, this is like, months and months (years?) late. The product has been out for a while. But whatever. If you want to try something interesting, SpinVox is a speech-to-text voicemail translator, and it worked pretty darned good for me. I plan to keep using it for a while and see how it changes the way I do business. (Thanks for that, James!)

If You Are a Business

Are your customers online? Well, I say yes to most folks. If so, are you listening to blogs, to Twitter, to other sources of information? HOW are you listening?

I use a lot of free tools to scan the web and pay attention. I use Technorati, Google Blogsearch, and Twitter Search to name a few.

There are other tools. One is Radian6. I worked with them on a series of Twebinars (twitter meets webinar), and the last of these comes up Tuesday the 19th at 2PM (tomorrow as I’m writing this). The details are here. I’m doubly thrilled because CEO Marcel Lebrun is going to join me live in the studio to talk with folks about the importance of listening.

If you’re a business, do what James Whatley did with SpinVox did and listen. Do what Marcel Lebrun calls “listening at the point of need.” And build your business around your customers’ needs and not the other way around.

What do you think? Have you seen examples of this?


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  • You must learn to Google. Google is the key to just about everything, and online, you can find the scariest stuff imaginable if you can Google correctly for it.

    Just this evening I saw the results of a credit report and background check for a nursing assistant job applicant posted IN THE CLEAR for the world to see.

    That company had better be listening, or the only listening they'll be doing shortly is to a bunch of lawyers.
  • Companies MUST listen to Twitter. I firmly believe this. They are missing the boat on this. For that face they need to be online on all social networking sites
  • Keith Don
    some companies do listen on Twitter. It is an alternate way for companies to not only recognise opportunities, but also to rescue lost (potential) customers.

    My best example is a personal experience with Hitwise. I was a potential customer and tried to contact them with their promoted livehelp service. After getting a message saying I had been assigned I basically got a series of I'll be right with you messages over 15-20 mins.

    I tweeted about my experience including twitpics of the screen and within 24 hours got a reply tweet from the CMO of Hitwise international followed by a phone call from a Hitwise representative the next day.

    I will likely still be a customer because they listened.
  • Chris:

    This one make my eyes perk up - a voice to text answering mechanism? Why, that could work very nicely for those who rely on text for everything (i.e. can't hear).

    Hmmmm......what an interesting discovery!
  • I had a very positive experience with @comcastcare in Twitter. They took care of my issue with them when I complained in Twitter. Comcast was listening to Twitter...
  • Just moments ago a Firefox support dude heard me complain about continuous crashes in FF3. I basically said I was done and moving on permanently to Flock.

    Not even 5 mins later, @Firefox_answers jumped on with some tips and help... very cool for an open source/not for profit group to be listening to twitter.
  • Actually, I've had two incidents of this nature recently... just today, I saw someone on my Following List mention issues they had with Comcast - I mentioned that she should try tweeting @comcastcares - very shortly thereafter, @comcastscott let me know that he had pinged her and they were on it... @comcastcares followed up and were working on her behalf. Because they were monitoring their own brand and making sure the were proactive.
    On another more personal note - last month I reviewed AwayFind.com http://tinyurl.com/6rxtx4 - which I think is an incredibly useful tool for folks on the go who live for their inboxes but need to manage them.
    Because of my current lifestyle, I really wasn't using it after testing it out.
    This week, I got an email from its creator Jared:
    "It’s been over a month now since you tried out AwayFind. Just curious if I can help at all with ideas (like how I use it in my email signature) or tips? I want to make an impact with this, maybe even help you personally—so if you have any insight to share about your experience (I’m guessing you’re not using it now from the stats?)."

    Honestly? Customer service doesn't GET better than that. I expect he & awayfind.com will go really far.
  • Are you my twin?

    We're in serious sync lately - I love it!

    My column in both the Montreal Gazette and Vancouver Sun last week was called:

    Online Chatter - Six Free Tools To Monitor What The Public Is Saying About You.

    The crux? Same as this Blog post - it doesn't have to be some fancy shmansy paid tool (although there are some that are awesome), there are many ways to listen... the tragedy is the brands that are not.

    You can check it out here: http://www.twistimage.com/blog/archives/online-...
  • Chris
    Good post. All of the tools you mention are valuable. I also find tweetbeep to be very useful in listening and alerting.
  • This may be a stupid question, but... what's the best way to search/monitor Twitter conversations? I can setup a Google Alert to keep track of blog mentions, but what's the corollary for monitoring Twitter?
  • @PR4Pirates - I mention it above: http://search.twitter.com , and then you can put the RSS feeds into your reader, or get them burned into email via some 3rd party service.
  • Listening is something that companies have often paid lip service to until now. The mechinisms for listening have been quite limited--surveys, direct mail or calls, some e-mail, ... but with Twitter and other tools, listening becomes a whole lot easier. In the world of social networking, a company's reputation can be created or broken in a matter of seconds if not days. having actual discussions with customers is as important as informating them about the product or service.
  • A similar thing happened to me recently. I was generally complaining about blip.tv on Twitter:

    "DorotheeRH Very frustrated with blip.tv right now, my newest video is all distorted so I have to wait to post it 10:50 AM July 14, 2008 from web"

    and that SAME day, a representative from blip.tv emails me to ask what the problem is, promptly gets my video fixed with extremely helpful tech support and I was so shocked that they actually took the time to find me that the next day I posted this:

    "DorotheeRH Blip.tv customer support rocks! They recompressed my video manually and now I can post to my blog. Thanks Blip.tv! 01:59 PM July 15, 2008 from web"
  • @Mitch - I swear I'm not trying to rip you off. I'm too afraid of shaving my head. : ) Guess we're thinking down the same roads.
  • Chris,

    I have used SpinVox for 6+ months now and I have to say if you stop at 'playing with it' you will really lose out.

    It has changed how I communicate with professionals. For example you are in a meeting and you receive a call, that is from someone and you know it is likely to be important but does that mean its important NOW or in an hour.

    With SpinVox you let the call go to VoiceMail and in moments you recieve a text that says 'Roger OUR WEBSITE IS DOWN EEEK!' or 'Can you have so and so send over those notes before the end of the day?'.

    Either one is important but one requires that I re-prioritise and exit the meeting the other requires a quick under the table text off to a colleague and done without so much as a whisper or pause in my schedule.

    Also I have had clients that don't text but are very comfortable receiving texts and this allows them to send me a text and for me to respond via text. Text is excellent when you are in a conference, coffee shop or pub and you need to get the message. Or you are on the golf course with a client and you took a call on the course?

    I know many say they don't take calls while out with clients but that is a lie in my opinion because often if your company is less than 10 staff no one can accept that call except you and it MAY be urgent so you must answer.

    Also one last point, if you get the text and you can refer it on to a junior staff then all you need to do is forward it on. What is faster?

    Trust me Chris, SpinVox et al are services a needed area of business. Don't give up on it, just adapt and James will help you as you noticed as he is very hands on and an easy Gentleman to chat with and reach.

    Cheers
    Roger
  • I want to be notified so I published again.. Sorry Chris
  • As a friend and industry colleague of Whatley, I couldn't agree more that this is the approach more businesses need to take. Be there on the front line for your customers, and your prospects.

    It requires companies to un-learn what they know of marketing: It's not just about the slick facade, but about the human day-to-dday interaction, the conversations over a beer and the freebies "just because".

    A good, dedicated community manager is priceless, but the product has got to be good - and SpinVox is just downright fantastic. So it's a perfect match, really!
  • Chris,

    Thank you for the awesome feedback!!!
    Happy to be of service...

    Hope you continue to enjoy SpinVox and just shout if I can help with anything else... I won't be far.
    ;)

    Cheers,

    James
  • Agree. But don't fall into the trap of assuming that the entire planet (or even all your customers) are hanging out on Twitter.

    It's very good to craft your offerings amongst IT-savvy early adopters - let's be honest, Twitter's primary constituency.

    But sooner or later, many companies want to break out into some sort of mainstream. At that point, listening is still very important, but presumably other media are required.

    i.e. "The point of need" is not always Twitter.

    (I appreciate this is totally obvious, but sometimes the Twitter bubble needs a little poke)
  • @Chris - I never implied you did... quite the contrary... I really do love it. For me, this validates everything I'm thinking/Blogging.

    Keep it up my friend (I don't know how you do it :)
  • We all talk a lot about the importance of listening, but I still think it's great to have another post with another great example.

    I, too, have had both positive and negative experiences with brands on twitter. Firefox was already mentioned above, and MailChimp is actually another good one. I've tweeted about issues and they've gotten back to me. Not only are these opportunities to put out fires early on, but they are opportunities to make a dissatisfied customer into an evangelist for your company (like DorotheeRH's earlier comment tweeting about great customer service).
  • How about "unheard" or "new" voicemails? :)
  • Kudos to Christopher Penn. It is a great example of listening for the point of need with an obviously positive outcome for SpinVox.
  • 'are you listening' is a good question.
    Another very interesting one is 'why are you listening'.
    I see two 'broad' answers. One is to 'Monitor What The Public Is Saying About You' as someone said in one comment. It's really the most frequent answer I see.
    The other one is to 'Understand What the Public Is Saying'....The difference seems subtle but inreality it's huge. In the earlier, you're present when someone mention your/your competitor brand. It's about you. You're staying outside of the 'sphere' and jumping in occasionally then getting out (That's social media customer service); In the later, it's about them (customers..). You jumping in, you're in 'discovery' mode (vs recovery for the first scenario) and in the long run, you build relevant relationships because you've become part of the communities with whom you have a share sense of purpose.
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