Out of more than one billion social media profiles worldwide in 2011, 50% of people follow brands on social media websites and 36% of social users post brand-related content. Of all the posts around brands, 95% of those posts go unanswered. For this reason, it’s important to know what your customers are saying about your brand, your products and your services and to respond accordingly as an active member within the conversation. The average user has 130 friends and is connected to 80 pages, events, and groups. If your company doesn’t currently have a blog, Facebook page, a Twitter account, or other social account, it’s a great idea to get on the band wagon and join in on the conversations.
VIRTUAL SETTLERS
Over the last decade, social channels such as blogs, social networks, video sharing sites, photo sharing sites, virtual worlds and many others have exploded at an insatiable rate and the trend doesn’t look to be temporary. Why? Because more and more users have found their own personal spaces, their virtual homes on the webbertubes. These users have selected the various social neighborhoods they prefer to reside, they are settling in and further expanding across other social channels (virtual summer homes?).
Users are busy personalizing their space, sharing everything from their demographics and connections to their personal opinions and feedback. Your customer’s interests have never before been more transparent nor their feedback expressed more openly for your company to digest and address.
JUMP INTO THE CONVERSATION
Listen
Companies large and small should be managing their brand reputation across the social channels, especially within the business-to-consumer (B2C) marketplace. We are all consumers and that means we have voices to share our thoughts on a multitude of subjects, including brands we’ve had experiences with, for better or worse.
Users speak freely on their social profiles, amongst friends and family, versus seeking out your company’s contact form to provide you feedback. If your company has a profile or message board located right in your user’s social neighborhood, they are more apt to visit you there and “Like” or post a comment. For example, in March 2012, 83% of people who complained on Twitter liked or loved a response by the company. Ensuring you have a person representing your company to acknowledge their comments and act as feedback mediator and conversationalist is important to lead the discussions. Larger companies may have a designated resource for the task while smaller companies may have someone managing it as a part of their daily activities.
Use
Now that you have been listening to your customers, what are you going to do with this knowledge? By analyzing user content, you might find out everyone just loves your services, there may be improvements that need to be made to your products or perhaps you find out there is a growing demand in your industry for certain locations.
Take your customer’s feedback to heart and work towards improving your product and/or services for the better. Pair this knowledge with your user’s general demographics and you might begin to see patterns in the data based on sex, gender, locations and interests. Paying attention to your customer’s feedback and demographics will get you into the minds of your target customers for future marketing approaches as well as finding out exactly what your consumers are expecting from your product or service.
Respond
It’s not what the user posted; it’s how your company responds, both written and actionable, to their post. Show users why they can count on your brand! If a customer had an exceptional experience with you, that customer may seek out your social page or message board to express their satisfaction while a customer who had a less than exceptional experience may want to tell you about it. We all know how to utilize positive customer feedback through testimonials and referrals but what about those less than exceptional experiences?
Everybody’s watching. In the social realm, posts are public to your company’s followers and therefore, everybody is watching how you respond. Address less than exceptional experiences by being positive, eager to help and accommodating for their next visit or product purchase. Showing those customers you find them and their business with you important also shows anyone else looking at your social page or message board you are willing to go the extra mile to ensure a quality product and/or service.
Never delete a post. Your positive response and solutions, turning an unhappy customer back into a happy one is a strong testament to your mission statement. Social users passing through your page may check your brand out in the near future based on how you handled and corrected the situation with their peer. In the same vein, users paying attention to particular posts will also take notice whether a comment or complaint was deleted and they will mentally store that fact. Who wants to be swept under the rug by a company? Hint: No one.
Hello? Is anyone there? Having a real person participating in the discussions and questions while also rectifying customer grievances connects your brand to your customers on a more open and personal level. Your customers begin to feel they have a relationship with the person on the other end of your company’s account and that relationship is associated with your brand. With all the automated and interactive voice response systems out there these days, a real person on the other end of the social discussion is unexpected and a welcomed change since the number one complaint about customer service by customers is the inability to easily reach a live person.
AVOID STALE & MOLDY
Now that you have the basics of brand representation in the social sphere, find new ways to keep your customers engaged. By offering a first time buyer 20% off, a returning customer coupons for their favorite products or an interactive game they are eligible to win a fancy trip, you are not only providing them a reason to choose your brand over your competitor’s brand but you are engaging them with your promotional branding efforts and keeping them coming back to talk about their favorite products and services.
90% of consumers trust peer recommendations so consumers are happy to refer their friends and family to brands they respect and trust while 78% of women and 74% of men are happy to share what brand they prefer. People have a strong disposition to listen to other users within the social realm they trust over a stranger or an ad telling them where to go to find what they need. Your customers have many connections which mean they are able to influence members of their social following to connect with your brand and help create new customers. Listening and actively participating in the conversations around your brand, your products and your services not only will help your company connect directly with your consumers but it will also help you to evolve and shape your company around what your consumers really want.
