Like a Good Neighbor, State Farm is … Everywhere

Imagine my surprise when State Farm found me after my recent post, which mentioned the back and forth between them and Larry Chiang. My trusty TweetDeck dashboard alerted me to a mention from @statefarm, saying they had read my blog post and would like to offer additional information about how the company uses social media to help customers. Of course, I gladly took them up on the offer.

Turns out, Griffin Hammond, a member of the social media team in State Farm’s public affairs department, had happened upon my blog during his normal social media monitoring. We exchanged a couple DMs on Twitter and e-mails and Griffin was kind enough to tell me a little more about how State Farm is using social media platforms to help its customers. Now I get to tell you.

First things first – we didn’t get into details on how the situation with Larry is going because despite Larry’s eagerness to share his story with the world, State Farm still has to respect a little thing called customer privacy. Totally and completely understandable. Especially given the fact that Larry probably has no idea I’ve decided to write about his situation. But Griffin did say that State Farm has been in touch with Larry over a variety of platforms and that his personal State Farm agent is working with him to resolve the issue.

What’s more, State Farm uses Twitter and other social media platforms to connect with customers, whether to inform or assist. Griffin explained that social media is just one of the tools through which the company learns about customer issues, and that customers that reach them through Twitter or blogs are connected with the executive customer service team, just like someone who calls or writes a letter. Interestingly, the company has incorporated this customer service team into the public affairs department, and they work closely with the social media team to make sure complaints that come through these mediums are handled efficiently.

Because the social media team, though in the same department (public affairs), is not part of the customer service team, complaints that come through Twitter has to be rerouted to someone with authority to help. Griffin is often the first point of contact since the monitoring methods he uses help him hear customer comments almost instantly. As with Larry, most of these conversations are handled by the customer’s personal agent, who takes them offline to maintain customer privacy. Griffin also notes that handling customer questions can be a complicated affair, so agents often need more than 140 characters to fix a situation.

When I asked if Griffin thought, in the end, using social media might help State Farm build a mutually beneficial relationship with Larry, he had this to say:

“Our goal is to be there for all our policyholders, customers, and claimants, wherever they want us to be, so I love that social media provides another communication opportunity. That being said, communication is communication, and the platform doesn’t change our relationship, our responsibilities, our desire to help, or our willingness (or theirs) to come to a mutually beneficial agreement.”

I’m a little torn on Girffin’s take. I agree that social media is, in principle, another platform for companies to communicate with customers or other key groups. But I also think it has the power to change the relationship a company shares with those who are interested in its work if a company wants it to. I think the two-way nature of social media opens doors for customer relationships that weren’t necessarily there through traditional media. I think social media platforms give companies a chance to actually change the way they do business by building deeper, more honest customer relationships.

What about you? Do you think social media holds the power to change companies relationships with their constituents, or are these platforms just another way to communicate?