Company Blog
Social Media: So What?
by Ryan Joy — February 4, 2010
A Recap from Part 1:
A consultant group we respect recently recommended that companies wait to get involved in social media because there are “no clear and obvious benefits.” While they may not be “clear and obvious,” we believe that the benefits of social media are significant. Here are three of them:
1. Positive Customer Touch Points Build Strong Brands
How many connections do you have with customers once they’re out of your store? Pursuing cost-effective ways to increase the quality and quantity of your touch points with customers is critical in the management and growth of your brand. Social media is a direct vehicle, cutting through the clutter to bring your message to the front of a customer’s mind. It is a positive, memorable, and cost-effective way to reach out to existing customers.
With 300 million Facebook users, your customers are already there. Conversations about your brand are happening right now. The question is whether or not you want to join these conversations. Many consumers now expect the level of transparency and interaction that social media provides. They expect to have a voice, and to receive information in the medium of their choosing.
2. The Buzz of Online-Only Offers
A good story travels fast across networks of friends, and social media only increases the velocity. Of course, a story sent to a customer from those they trust the most will get more attention, and be viewed as more credible, than conventional advertising. The key is to make your post compelling enough for someone to pass it on. This usually means a worthwhile offer (“free” is best) combined with an interesting spin (for example, check out Sprinkle’s “whisper” offers).
3. The Power of Dialogue
Most companies understand the power of great customer service to build lifelong loyalty, generate word of mouth stories, and turn a bad customer experience into a memorable example of customer care that will be retold by customers again and again. Monitoring social networks for questions and complaints about your brand will identify new opportunities for customer care.
There are a lot of ways to harness the power of social interaction on the Internet. Social media is more than Twitter and Facebook. Consider the piece we referred to at the beginning of this article, which stated that Apple doesn’t believe in creating communities. Then take a look at the “discussions” feature (often referred to as “communities” on Apple’s homepage), not to mention the dialogue in the comments section of iTunes and the massive community of fan bloggers monitoring Apple’s every move. The power of the Internet lies not in pushing information, but in dialogue.
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