At the end of a long day, or any special event, everyone deserves a special treat, especially when it comes to desert. Since social media has become a norm of society in today’s world, I have never gone by a day where I haven’t seen one of my friends or colleagues share a post of desert that they are having. Jennifer Grossman, owner of Irresistibly Delicious has established a successful at home business where she bakes various custom deserts and cakes and is known throughout the GTA. Many may think how Jennifer managed to grow her business since it is run and managed from home. Well the answer to that is the success of her business comes through her exceptional customer engagement tactics which she uses through social media platforms.

Ontario Soccer is one of the oldest sports organizations in Canada founded in 1901 with over 500,000 registered participants. Ontario Soccer provides leadership, advancement and development opportunities for players, coaches, and other stakeholders. Ontario Soccer is a member of Canada Soccer and is a member of FIFA the world governing body of soccer. Ontario Soccer has 21 district offices and several associate members within regional and provincial leagues. The Ontario Soccer headquarters is located in Vaughan Ontario, with indoor and outdoor soccer facilities. From my experience many years ago customer engagement with soccer associations including Ontario Soccer was done mainly through face to face encounters, with prospect members/customers this included players, coaches, match officials, and soccer clubs. Customer Engagement was done primarily through meetings, distribution of flyers, and events such as soccer tournaments. Presently customer engagement has changed drastically with the use of Social Media channels such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. Additionally the Manager of Communications at Ontario Soccer reported they also use Tweetdeck, Hootsuite and Meltwater.

When you’re an airline that receives 35,000 social media inquiries per week, you need a fully engaged team to be able to pull off your commitment “to respond to every user comment or question within 60 minutes” and resolve every issue within 24 hours, but this is exactly what  KLM Royal Dutch Airlines is doing. The airline even updates their social media banners every five minutes letting customers know the approximate wait time for a response.

Today’s marketing landscape is ever changing, and with it, the way we engage with our customers.  It is no longer about selling a service or a product; now it is all about the customer experience.  Companies like T by Daniel, a Brampton based tea house, strive to provide a genuinely exceptional experience for each and every person they meet.  Lovers of tea, fashion and especially people, Daniela and Renata Lewis had a vision to start something that could speak to all generations and could bring people together 1. It began when Daniel Lewis overcame a tragedy and used his new found passion for life to follow his dream with his loving wife by his side.  “From the moment a person walks into our store, our immediate goal is to wow them” says Renata Lewis, co-founder.  Their friendly staff focus on getting to know their customers, whether in person or online.

Hello and welcome back folks! In my last blog – Shopify’s Custom Built Unicorn Platform Takes Employee Engagement to a Whole New Realm  I looked at how Shopify’s amazing business culture fosters their exemplary employee engagement.  Next, I focus on how Shopify as an organization exudes the same passion when connecting with their customers. “We want every single minute of interaction with a customer to be a minute of true value,” says Richard Hall – Director of Revenue Operations [1] “We strive for happiness — not satisfaction!  The customer service industry is obsessed with “customer satisfaction”. We believe that’s too low a bar. Satisfaction is not a measure of success — it’s just enough to get by. We want our customers to be happy. Happiness is success. Happiness is our goal. “ [2] – Mantra spoken by Shopify’s customer support team Let me be honest, my first exposure to Shopify was actually through my husband.  He recently joined  Shopify’s free two-week trial, for his online store: Essential Oil Labs. Lately, all we seem to do is talk about growing his business. So I decided why not engage with him and get a first hand look at how Shopify really interacts with their customers.  I was marveled at the amount of times they have reached out to him.  He’s plugged into all sorts of forums,  “How-To” videos and not to mention he gets a “gazillion” emails.  What really struck me is the way in which they deliver this material.  It’s timely, entertaining, and pretty darn addictive.