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Strategically Connect Through Social Media
By Jeannie Walters
December, 8 2008
A look at how Social Media can help you reach your customers in a new and creative way.
Social Media seems to be the answer to many marketing woes lately (if you listen to the social media celebrities). Basically, it is a new(ish) way in which people discover, read and share news, information and content. Social media transforms traditional, “monologue communications” (one-to-many) into dialogs (many-to-many). Social Media gives everyone a voice. With Social Media, no one is designated as “audience” or “content creator.” Anyone can participate in content creation and discussion. This is why we think it has to be at least considered as part of your customer experience strategy.
If used effectively, Social Media can help you:
- Identify and increase cross-selling and up-selling opportunities
- Increase customer retention and customer lifetime value
- Engage your customers in conversation, create emotional connections increasing customer loyalty, and quickly find out what your customers want and need
- Get unbiased, real-time feedback – Give your customers an easy way to tell you what’s on their minds
- Identify your most passionate customers (and most dissatisfied customers)
- Identify and target your most loyal and profitable customers
- Identify customer issues and pain points and correct them quickly
There is, however, a more-effective and a less-effective way of using Social Media. If you aren’t careful, you could pour hundreds of hours into virtually fruitless efforts.
Keep it simple.
Here are 3 tips to starting simple and gaining traction in Social Media:
- Focus on the community - Communities/Media should focus on the customer’s wants and needs rather than the business goals of the hosting organization. ASK a lot and monitor feedback. Don’t just promote specials or news.
- Participate and moderate – Just like an old-fashioned face-to-face conversation, the hosting organization should consider itself responsible for at least 50% of the conversation. 80 – 90% of the community will be “lurkers” with most of the conversation coming from a vocal minority. That’s ok. The lurkers will get something out of their own participation, so don’t expect every person to be active.
- Listen and respond - Be prepared to hear both negative and positive feedback from your customers. Have a plan for responding to criticism as well as praise from your customers. Do so FAST and within the forum they used.
How Vox Can Help
- Social Media Strategy – evaluate your customers – where they are, what social media they use and how they like to communicate. This isn’t about marketing. It’s about customer relationships.
- Gap analysis and customer research – research and analyze existing communities within your industry to determine what’s working and what isn’t. Conduct targeted customer research to determine your customers’ level of interest in social network participation. Identify existing behaviors to predict their likelihood of participating in a community and what features would be the most engaging.
- Online strategy and design – user flows, wireframes, and processes for the development and launch of websites, social media and online communities.
- Customer communications – develop offline strategies and communications for developing customer engagement and soliciting customer feedback.
Since we’re on the subject, you can follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/jeanniecw
(Don’t know what twitter is? Ask me about it!)
Jeannie Walters is President of Vox, Inc., a customer experience research and consulting firm. Contact her through the feedback form on our Contact Us page. Copyright 2008 Vox, Inc. All rights reserved.
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