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Why you won't be getting a free steak on Twitter
Here's a customer experience story that's popping this week. Sitting on a plane while hungry, social media consultant Peter Shankman posted a request on Twitter for a porterhouse steak from his favorite steakhouse chain. After landing a couple of hours later at Newark airport, Shankman was handed a porterhouse steak, gratis, delivered by the restaurant. (Here's his recap.)
I can appreciate the effort and agility it took for the steakhouse to make the delivery - kudos to them. And I'm happy for Peter. I know him a little - we're both longtime veterans of the New York City Internet community, and I've linked to his site before (I identified with his column on being a nice guy who doesn't like being underestimated).
Still, I have to note that Peter's Twitter account has over 100,000 followers. If Peter - good, talented guy that he is - had asked for the porterhouse but had only had a few hundred followers, what would have happened? Would the steakhouse - good, agile team that it is - have made the delivery? If so, there are thousands of Twitter users who would be happy to post their request for a free steak.
The drawback of the steak story is that it's not applicable to most users. Whatever conclusions we might draw about the power of social media must be viewed in the strict context of an extraordinarily well-connected user. Yes, social media created an efficient, surprising, good customer experience - for someone who could transmit the story to 100,000 followers. The company saw value in the reach that Shankman would have, and so they invested in achieving that reach. Come to think of it, it's not much different from - brace yourself - advertising. Exactly the thing that social media was supposed to replace.
Twitter and other social media services are creating some new experiences and new opportunities. But many of them are only for celebrities and other users in the top tenth of one percent. I'm happy that good guys like Peter are among them. But when it comes to drawing conclusions about social media and what it can do for the world, I'm more interested in seeing what's available to the other 99.9% of users.
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P.S. For what it's worth, here's my Twitter account. Not quite 5,000 followers - maybe I could get a bag of chips :)
Reminds me of those TV consumer watchdogs. As soon as they contact a business about an unhappy customer, their 3-month back-and-forth with that customer magically gets solved. So, if you want that steak, do what they do, just ask Peter to order it for you!
It's funny how the world works. The more well-connected you are, the less you actually have to pay for things. Your implied endorsement of an item, made by publicly consuming it, is reward enough for the company that made it.
kudos on the twitter/Peter/steak comments. i can't 'twitter' you a bag of chips, but here's a 'handshake' for your comments which i completely agree with.
Here's a more heart-warming story of the power of social media and the good deeds of others, which took place last weekend at the USA Triathlon National Championship. http://bit.ly/oBCUVE. @thetrijunkie, the recipient of the good deed has 73 followers, and the ultimate do-gooder, @dconnSLC777, only has 10.
Follow both of these men, and tweet this fantastic story.
What if he had used email instead of twitter??
You guys in the US should try the same thing and see what happens.
Here's my Twitter customer service story and, at the time I probably had 500 followers: I stood on the New York City street and tweeted that I was waiting for my Megabus back to DC. Suddenly, Megabus was following me.
The bus was supposed to have WiFi but I couldn't get a signal. So I tweeted them back, asking if they could get in contact with the driver and tell him to flip the switch (I was on the upper level and didn't want to make the treacherous walk downstairs while barreling down the NJ Turnpike). Problem solved.
Danny Meyer, well-known restauranteur has stated that customers aren't always right but they want to be heard. It's a matter of making us feel like companies and businesses are actually listening to us when we have either a compliment or a complaint.
Not sure what you see in Shankman. I viewed his last 50 tweets and concluded the following: 1. He views himelf as some sort of a celebrity. 2. He seldom if ever posts or references info of any usefulness to me, and 3. He mentions news items that I already heard about in the local media. This gave me a great idea, Mark. Why don't you tell people that I too am a celebrity of some sort and that they should start following me and my words of wisdom. In turn I'll start declaring myself a celebrity, posting bits and pieces of inane news items, quotes, and my stream of personal conciousness. After one week I'll report to you on the outcome of this experiment by showing what percentage change from baseline there was in my number of Twitter followers. Just say the word and we can start.
Mark, thanks for the post on the Shankman Steak story. A couple of comments since I live my life providing strategy to corporate clients.
First, social media is about building "relationships" not providing more commercials via social channels. Those days of self-promotion and "pimping" your product are fast fading. If you aren't "helping" you are not using it correctly. But it is "relationship" focused at the end of the day. My recommendation to you to get the "steak" is to start "following" the people following you. When it is so one-sided as it is in your twitter account, pretty tough to have a "relationship".
Second, it isn't about the numbers at the end of the day - it is about having more people who "care" about you and are your "advocates" that makes a difference. "Friend collecting" is fading fast. Focus on fewer people that really enjoy interacting with you and you will see people delivering steak to you as well, with a fraction of the followers.
Hope this helps...
Blaine Millet
WOM10.com
So, get connected! All it takes is some expertise, a lot of effort and enrichment of the folks you are connected to (information, entertainment, inspiration, engagement). As Keith Ferrazi says, "Never eat alone."
Good points. Here's what ticks me off about this incident: It's touted as a great "customer service" experience. Customer service, my...foot. This blog post proves that it was a marketing stunt, not a demonstration of great customer service.