NORDSTROM
Following Nordstrom on Twitter and Facebook for a couple of weeks revealed how a large, successful business uses social media to provide excellent customer service. Nordstrom describes themselves as a ‘fashion specialty retailer of clothing, shoes and accessories’ (@Nordstrom). The customer service line is clearly visible in the biography section as well as on the background of the Twitter feed. The social media team is also provided by name- not completely necessary, but it makes the direct tweets a little bit more personal.
This company has over 170,000 followers on Twitter and over 1.3 million likes on Facebook. However, there are more specific Facebook and Twitter pages for individual Nordstrom stores, I focused mainly on the general company Nordstrom social networking uses. The store tweets and updates their Facebook status two to three times a day to the general followers. They use a very friendly tone, usually promoting an upcoming sale or a new trend that is going on. The company usually tweets to both a younger and more mature, fashionable audience. For example, they will tweet about new prom dress looks as well as ‘rush hour to happy hour’ looks for working women (@Nordstrom). The tweets in general are to women. Even those updates that involve men’s clothing include how the women can buy the product for the man. Nordstrom clearly has a specific audience. They appeal to various ages of fashion forward women.
Another very interesting aspect of Nordstrom’s social media use is the social media team. There is a team of people updating both the Twitter and the Facebook pages regularly using a similar voice. These individuals tweet back to direct tweets (@Nordstrom) regarding everything from a customer complaint, a shout out about a new purchase, or an upcoming shopping spree. The majority of tweets are in response to specific people. They obviously spend a lot of time contributing to the site and to make sure that everyone who takes part in Nordstrom’s Twitter gets a response from the company. Nordstrom replies to customer issues and asks the user to use direct messaging to get more information about the problem. This shows that Nordstrom is very aware of their web presence. They not only want to participate in their customers’ conversations, but they help solve problems. Their friendly tone makes customers want to get help with their issues. It gives the appearance that Nordstrom really wants to provide their customers with the best customer service possible.
Marwick and Boyd explain how speaking to a very specific audience can be perceived as inauthentic (Marwick and Boyd 119). In this situation, the majority of Nordstrom’s tweets are to specific people. So they know exactly whom they are talking to. I think this is an excellent use of Twitter and a good way to always know whom they are speaking to so they appeal to a wider variety of people. However, the drawback of using this customer service heavy process of tweeting to viewers is that Nordstrom is showing up very frequently on the average customer’s news feeds. Because the company mainly tweets to specific people, the general viewer rarely sees updates from this company. It is an interesting approach to social networking. It seems as though those who actively seek out Nordstrom will get frequent updates and can have direct conversations with the company. But it also makes the casual viewer fall under the radar. For example, I am following very few people on Twitter and I would have to search for updates from Nordstrom, either by going to their page or by scrolling through many updates on my own Twitter feed. It really makes me wonder what Nordstrom’s use of Twitter is trying to accomplish. It seems as though it is a source for customers to personally talk to the company in a very nonthreatening, non-confrontational way about their issues. On the other hand, people can see how concerned Nordstrom is with their customer service. They obviously want to make everyone’s experience the best it can be and they try to solve problems as best they can. Customers will see this clearly on their Twitter profile.
Using this technique of social networking can be risky. The public can see everything tweeted to Nordstrom. The lines between public and private information are being blurred. This means that Nordstrom has no control over the content being posted on these public pages, so the boundaries between public and private are not distinct (Boyd 10). Customers can see all of the complaints aimed at Nordstrom, as well as affirmations and positive feedback as well. It is interesting how the company asks tweeters to send them a direct message with more information regarding problems. It makes me wonder how the company interacts with customers when no one else is watching.
Nordstrom also exhibits some of the web 2.0 design patterns. For example, the company is always in perpetual beta. They can use the feedback from customers on this site to see what they are doing right and what people are complaining about the company. This collective intelligence of information can show customers how Nordstrom’s service is used as well as a source for employees to see what needs to be fixed or improved (O’Reilly 1). It is a way to see how customers really feel about their services. Nordstrom also uses crowdsourcing to cooperate and not control the media on it’s Twitter page (O’Reilly 2). Nordstrom obviously does not control what is posted on their page. They simply try to handle the situation and ‘right the wrong’ to the customer. This not only makes that specific customer happy, it puts other viewers at ease. If I have a problem with Nordstrom service in the future, I would consider going to the Twitter site to see if I can get any better service there than in person.
This use of Twitter could also be seen as a convergence culture. This site is a place for new forms of exchange between the Nordstrom social media team and viewers/customers using Nordstrom’s social media content (Jenkins 3). Both customers and Nordstrom employees are able to post information at this location. Because of this, customers can actively participate and converge information and experiences. This can be extremely beneficial for businesses or very hurtful. Those businesses that provide good customer service will profit from this site, but those companies who have many problems with service will have all of their issues available for public viewing.
Nordstrom does an excellent job of using social media. They provide customers with an outlet to express their opinions, whether they are positive or negative. Because they always tweet back to the viewer, Nordstrom shows that they are interested in the customer’s needs by actively participating in their Twitter experiences. The friendly persona Nordstrom uses shows that they genuinely want to help their customers and that they would like them to have the best possible experience at their stores.
Works Cited
@Nordstrom. Twitter. 19 Mar. 2012. Web. <https://twitter.com/#!/Nordstrom>.
Boyd, Danah. “Social Networked Sites as Networked Publics: Affordances, Dynamics and Implications.” in Networked Self: Identity, Community and Culture on Social Networked Sites (2010) pp. 39-58.
Jenkins, Henry. “Introduction.” Worship at the Alter of Convergence (2008).
Marwick, Alice E. and Danah Boyd. “I Tweet Honestly, I Tweet Passionately: Twitters Users, Context Collapse, and the Imagined Audience.” New Media Society 13:114 (July 7, 2010).
O’Reilly, Tim and John Battelle. “Web Squared: Web 2.0 Five Years On.” Web2 (2009).
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