OmnitureCare v2.0

On December 18, 2008, a friend and manager in the ClientCare organization here at Omniture approached me about heading up a new approach to support: social media. I was an avid Facebook user and blogger, but had never used Twitter. To call the next few weeks “trial by fire” would be to understate the size of the firehose from which I drank. When the dust settled, we learned something wonderful:

Technical support in 140 characters works. In fact, it works really well.

I have spent the better part of the past 18 months working with Omniture users on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, blogs, forums, and elsewhere, and a number of great things have come out of it. First, you all get near-immediate answers to pesky questions. Second, you get to meet and share knowledge with one another; I am convinced that our community of users will always understand how our tools are really used much better than I will, so you are frequently the best candidates to answer another user’s question. Third, we get much closer interaction with you, leading to more direct product innovation and things like the Idea Exchange. I could go on, but you’re probably already wondering what my point is.

In response to the tremendous success of these programs, we would like to make you aware of a few changes to the Omniture Client Services social media program. I’m calling it “OmnitureCare v2.0,” because that’s exactly what it is.

First, as some readers have already noticed, Jorgen Sorensen has begun to field your questions using the @OmnitureCare Twitter account. Many of you have worked with Jorgen in your interactions with ClientCare, and have let us know, in no uncertain terms, that he is extremely passionate about your success in working with SiteCatalyst and other Omniture tools. (Bonus: He speaks Japanese.) Jorgen will also be monitoring various forums for web analytics. We strongly believe that a single individual should represent the @OmnitureCare account, and it should always be the person closest to the action. More than 2,000 of you have come to rely on the @OmnitureCare account for important updates and information, and that won’t be changing in the slightest.

Second, we are looking at additional ways to broaden our impact in social media channels. As an example, some of you may have noticed the addition of Francois Coquemont (@OmnitureFC) to our Twitter team. We will continue to refine and improve our approach to make sure that we are taking care of you. The principles of testing, analysis, and optimization all apply to our usage of social media.

Finally, in case you are wondering about me, I will be sticking around as @benjamingaines, and will continue to participate in discussion about our products. However, my role here will be changing somewhat; I will be joining the superheroes on our Product Management team and working with SiteCatalyst, a product that I have used literally every workday (and many weekends!) for more than four years, as well as our new Digital Pulse tool and the Idea Exchange. I’m excited about this for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that I will get to continue working closely with you, our user community, and doing my best to ensure your success going forward. Social media has become, and will continue to be, an ideal way for our Product Managers to learn what you need from us and our products, so I hope you will share your thoughts and participate the discussion. Also, I will continue to publish regularly on this blog, so don’t update your feed readers!

I am excited about these developments, largely because they will enhance our ability to interact with you and ensure that you get answers exactly when you need them. I hope you’ll join me in welcoming Jorgen (if you have not done so already) and others who will take part in our social media support efforts in the future. We are thrilled to be a part of an organization that takes social media support so seriously.

I’m used to closing my blog posts by inviting you to contact me on Twitter. I’ll do the same this time; if you have any questions about any of these changes, please feel free to contact me. . . at @benjamingaines.

• Ben Gaines
• 8 responses
•  Omniture Business, Social Media, Web Analytics

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