Comcast Triples the Size of its Social Media Team

The cable company aims to fix its customer service by expanding its social care team.

Comcast’s customer service has frequently made the news in a negative way in the past year, from a phone call going viral between a customer service representative for the company and a customer who tried to quit the service, to no avail, to another customer’s name being changed to a vulgarity on his bill.

The cable company is now trying to turn the negative press around by focusing on improving the customer service via the increasingly important social channels, as it triples the size of its social care team and is giving them additional resources and support so they can be "more responsive and helpful to customers".

With the digitally savvy millennials making up a bigger percentage of global consumers each day, providing customer care through a variety channels to create a true omni-channel experience for your customers is more important than ever.

And one of the biggest changes, and challenges, is the increasing reliance on social channels to communicate with customers to both entice them to get involved with your brand, or resolve any questions or issues they may be having in real time.

Providing a contact point 24/7 for people to engage with you as a company is a great opportunity to enhance the customer experience, or improve one that isn’t working smoothly yet on traditional channels.

As Tom Karinshak, Senior Vice President of Customer Service at Comcast Cable, said as he compared the customer experience landscape to that of just a few years ago: "Today the world looks completely different. Customers are using Twitter, Facebook and a continually growing number of social platforms for everything – it’s where they go to give feedback, ask questions, and look for help."

For those who are somewhat skeptical about what service a representative on social media can provide in, for instance, a limited 140 characters, Karinshak added: "The social care team has access to all the same advanced tools and training as our call center agents do, which means they can quickly jump in to solve problems. They also have a direct line to our tech teams so they can schedule appointments."

As it is those more traditional channels, such as Comcast’s call center, that have received the negative press in the past, this isn’t necessarily a comforting sentiment – but putting more resources on providing a solid customer service is certainly a step in the right direction.