LAST of 4 PARTS ─ Social media is a lot like the activity at a bar. You know, the kind with drinks and sometimes loud music.
That's Dave Carroll's take. Long before we started Linking In and Facebooking and Tweeting, he was playing his music in university-area establishments. Drawing parallels between the pub and online environments comes easily for him.
"They're both sort of noisy, and if you want to stand out you have to do something to get people's attention," he says. He maintains that certain songs make people stop drinking and talking long enough to hold their attention for four or five minutes. Social media sort of works that way, too.
Carroll, who achieved celebrity status with his viral United Breaks Guitars video on YouTube, shares more views on social media and customer service in this video interview:
Was Carroll surprised by the reaction to his story about United Airlines baggage handlers breaking his prized Taylor guitar and what he considered a weak response from United?
"I was pretty convinced I could get a million hits," he says. "But what I didn't know was that not all million hits are created equal." He received thousands of emails from people expressing a ton of emotion and energy from watching his video.
"People said 'I had a bad airline experience, too, and we watched your video and we sat around for three hours and talked about customer service.' .... "United Breaks Guitars" has been a conversation starter."
He is convinced that "anyone who wants to cut through the noise on social media should probably do something they really love to do because, once you do, it doesn't feel like work and the people watching it can see your passion."
'United Breaks Guitars' Made Dave Carroll a Customer Service Celebrity
'United Breaks Guitars' Sparks New Customer Complaint Resolution Model
'United Breaks Guitars' Launched Dave Carrolls Career in Social Media (video interview)