Color Me Surprised

In my most recent post, I rambled about how technology can be tricky for those of us who do not hold advanced degrees in computer science. One situation I briefly touched on was how my entire e-mail address book was briefly lost when Comcast transitioned to a new server.

Imagine my surprise when, less than 24 hours later, an e-mail arrived in my inbox from a woman named Melissa that works for Comcast in their Customer Connect division. She was just checking to make sure there was nothing they could do to ensure my ongoing happiness.

Huh?

I told my sister last night about the e-mail and her question was “how on earth did she find your blog?” I told her I figured Comcast had folks whose job was to monitor e-mail blogs and chat rooms to find people that were unhappy with their service and endeavor to clean up any messes.
Sure enough, Melissa e-mailed me back this morning and said: “Our team aims to find customers online and in social media web spaces who may need our help. In today’s technologically driven society, many people will blog about a problem before they call in.”

The people at Comcast sure are smart. Think about it, what’s the first thing you do if you have a sore throat, want to unclog your kitchen sink, or are wondering what is the number one album on the Billboard charts? You Google it, of course. So imagine what might happen if you Googled a business and there were lots of bloggers out there complaining. You’d likely decide against that cough medicine, that brand of drain unclogger (yes, it is unlikely that is a word, but go with it) or a badly reviewed album – no matter where it is on the charts.

My kudos to Comcast for managing their online presence. If you have an online business, consider setting up a Google Alert so you’ll know if someone is posting something about you. Good or bad, it’s better to know where you stand so you can make improvements while you grow your business.

And thanks, Melissa for the tip on my e-mail signature line. I’m going to try to get that fixed up tonight, right after I throw my Blackberry out the window (just kidding, Sprint.)