Vocal few or silent majority?

Sorry to continue the topic of customer service but lets face it who hasn’t had a bad experience and felt the need to shout about it. Just recently Ticketmaster messed up what was meant to be a special present for a close friend. They rectified the situation after I sent a harshly worded email, followed up by a call, and consequently restored my faith in good customer service. What’s interesting though is how companies respond to complaints and generally ensure good service. Alex I think made a very good point in that the likes of Twitter and Facebook can’t cover the service failings of the offline world.

When you consider that 93% of the population is not on Facebook, is the marketing world spending too much time and money on campaigns addressing these mediums? Sure, for consumer brands there is a place for ensuring the vocal few don’t destroy reputations, and indeed the modern world has forced companies to react, but how much do Facebook and Twitter campaigns actually affect the bottom line?

I would imagine that rather than those that shout the loudest, the largest impact on a company’s bottom line comes from the silent majority and let’s face it the silent majority are unlikely to be on Facebook and Twitter. For these, more traditional methods of communicating are key and while social media clearly has its place in the modern world, let’s all take a step back and rather than board the next bandwagon consider the value of social media to each individual company.