Yesterday, I had the privilege of joining a distinguished panel of media experts and marketers to discuss social media at Music Matters.

Joining me on the panel were James Rothwell (Head of Google+ Marketing, Google Asia Pacific), Ole Obermann (Executive Vice President of Digital Partner Development and Sales, Sony Music Entertainment) and Robin Seow (Vice President, Marketing, Printing and Personal Systems Group, HP Asia, Pacific and Japan). The discussion was moderated by Thomas Crampton (Asia Pacific Director, Social@Ogilvy). Each panelist discussed how their respective companies use social media in their marketing and community-building activities.

Social Media has become extremely important for SingTel, especially in the last two years. In that time, the company has grown from having a minimal Facebook presence to a state where social media is harnessed for every major campaign or product launch and is a vital source for customer feedback.

SingTel’s social media channels (official Facebook page and @SingTelSupport Twitter handle) are among the company’s fastest growing Customer Support channels.  SingTel has a dedicated Customer Support team active 14 hours a day (0900-2300), seven days a week, assisting hundreds of  consumers weekly.

(On a personal note, I always confidently recommend tweeting @SingTelSupport to friends because I know it’s the most reliable way to get a quick response.)
Interacting with SingTel via social media channels can not only provide prompt service but also a pleasant surprise or two. A few months ago, a customer’s tweet about her pet cat Dawn led to a special treat from the SingTel social media team. The incident was documented by local blogger Miss Hallelujah.

Read about how SingTel’s Twitter presence brings service to customers with a human touch.

Recently, SingTel partnered with comedian Hossan Leong and Twitter to get consumers talking about 4G/LTE. Consumers shared their ideas on how they would use the high-speed 4G connection and SingTel turned these ideas into improv comedy skits which were then published online via Youtube. The campaign resulted in 23 videos uploaded in just eight hours. Read more about the campaign here.)

Many brands talk about how they use social media to “listen” to their consumers. Customer feedback gathered from social media is so important to SingTel that it has a direct impact even on the company’s network infrastructure.  During a massive mobile network upgrade programme that began in 2012, SingTel provided a feedback form on its Facebook page so that customers could directly offer information on where the upgrades were needed most. The thousands of feedback forms provided by consumers were collated on a weekly basis and allowed SingTel to re-prioritize its upgrade schedule based on customer feedback.

Read about What makes great Social.

Since SingTel realized that the upgrade programme would take months, the company decided to be as transparent as possible in sharing information. Progress on the upgrades were provided via a dedicated page on the SingTel.com wesbite, complete with progress reports, upgrade timetables and even pre- and post-upgrade Speedtest comparisons.

Social media can be a powerful ally as long as a brand makes the decision to harness its power. The path isn’t without risks but the rewards can be many for those who are daring enough.