Speaking at the DMA’s Future of Direct Marketing event at LBi’s offices in London this week, Warren Buckley said the two departments need to work more closely together to ensure they can meet customer expectations.

The rise of social media means customers now demand a more personal relationship with brands, he said.

“They don’t want to feel like one of millions,” he told delegates. He said that means that companies must take a more co-ordinated approach across all departments, to ensure customers are treated consistently.

"Customers don’t realise that the marketing team is running your Facebook page while another team is running your Twitter stream. They just see you as one company," said Buckley.

"There's been a relationship breakdown between customers and many large companies and it's for the marketing and customer service departments of an organisation to rebuild it."

"You could say that marketers and customer service teams need to have a love affair," he added.

At BT, a dedicated customer care team are responsible for responding to customer queries and complaints across its Twitter, Facebook and forum pages but they consult with designated content owners from other departments to craft an accurate and consistent reply.

Turnaround times are tight, as BT aims to post a reply to customers within 60 to 90 minutes.

“We always respond using the same channel that the customer has chosen to communicate with us,” explained Buckley. “I hate it when I see companies replying to a tweet by saying ‘you need to phone us about that',” he added.

Adapting to the customer’s behaviour is a sign of respect, he said. BT’s customer care team, for example, are trained to use a more colloquial tone of voice when communicating via social media.

‘We teach them to align with the character of the person they’re talking to, rather than more traditional language such as ‘apologies’,” he said.

BT’s staff aren’t the only ones responding to customers. On BT’s community forum - which Buckley says is at the heart of its social activity -the majority of queries are answered by other forum members.

While social media has become an integral part of BT’s customer service and marketing strategies, Buckley believes it’s important not to neglect more traditional channels, as these are still popular with many customers.

The company has recently renewed its focus on improving paper bills, after realising the majority of customers still prefer to receive bills by post rather than email.

Find out why direct mail and social media are a marriage made in heaven.