10 Tips for Marketers

Is Social Media The New Call Centre?

The Real Value of Social Media Customer Service

Are you ever frustrated with call centre delays, being put on hold, getting cut off, being diverted to several lines before you get to who you need to speak to resolve an issue? How do you feel about talking to the recording that rarely interprets your verbal three word prompt correctly and ends up diverting you to the wrong department for your query? Or even worse, you just can’t get through because they are experiencing above average call volume - that never seems to stop.

As the business landscape changes and technology and social media develop, will social media be the new five star standard in customer service delivery? Think that sounds outrageous, think again, it has already started.

Big business are converting more prospects into sales through social media than ever before, online sales in most categories are growing at remarkable rates. Instant response customer service is an expectation and consumers want customer service delivered in their communication landscape. People of all ages are spending more and more time on social media, globally consumers are taking the social experience mobile and predictions are that this shift will surpass all expectations over the next few years.

Brian Solis, author of The End of Business as Usual predicts, “2013 will bring about an expansion in social media beyond a marketing and engagement philosophy to that of oneness. Social media strategy will start to take a more integrated approach where social media becomes an extension of important channel strategies and business functions. It will be driven by a holistic effort where enterprise, business and functional strategies work to accomplish business objectives while meeting the needs and expectations of employees and customers”.

 This means business must prepare to have conversations with consumers on their terms.

Social media provides business with the opportunity to demonstrate the professional status of your company or organisation. It is a listening opportunity, a chance to talk with your consumer or potential consumer, and it is an opportunity to engage those who are likely to want or need what you offer. Using social media you can establish a relationship that meets the needs of both parties. You can educate and inform potential buyers and reach a much larger market than traditional marketing platforms in a more personal way.

Conversation is the starting point for that relationship with your customer, it is one of the most natural ways of building a relationship. The increased use of social media by consumers over the past few years paved the way for a logical shift  that brings a value add to the customer conversation and relationship. Social media conversation allows you the opportunity to reach more customers faster and more affordably than ever before. A conversation with one customer on your Facebook page will in all probability respond to similar questions from many customers therefore you are not conversing with one customer, you are problem solving or providing valuable information that may be the deciding factor in your company being a trusted brand to many potential and existing customers.

A recent article by sellingpower.com states; “A prospect turns into a lead when you start a real conversation with them, great conversation is two-way. The best conversation is an exchange of ideas that benefits both parties. A great sales leader, Gerhard Gschwandtner put it this way: “Ditch the pitch. Co-create with the customer. Make them part of your value chain.”

Brand loyalty is built on trust, trust is established through conversation, and online conversations utilising social media channels such as Facebook creates an immediate opportunity for customer engagement. Responding to consumers in a timely manner on social media demonstrates that you are open and an accessible.

Remi Carlioz, senior head of digital at PUMA, is blunt and to the point in his article on Digiday, “It is undoubtedly necessary to find and engage with people where they digitally reside, rather than relentlessly, always trying to usher them back to a brand’s owned platform. Brands are too self-centered and must boldly act on the desire that the consumer possesses; the desire to transparently experience and interact with a brand online.”

By Gail Worthington-Eyre

 

Employer Brand and Consumer Brand. Why should there be a difference?

As usual Firebrand produce some interesting and informative articles. I really liked this one and wanted to share it with you. 

Gail Worthington-Eyre

Have you ever had a customer track you down via Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter to resolve a problem for them? What about a friend asking you for advice about a product that’s made by the brand you work for? If that’s happened to you, like it or not, that makes you a brand ambassador.

Social media has rewritten the rules for engaging with customers. No longer can you be a faceless organisation that only relies on a small PR team to “spin” news, a marketing team to craft promotional messages, a customer service hotline to answer customer complaints or the field sales force to deal with everything else. Almost all of your employees can be tracked down and identified either via LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Blogs and Forums. So what does this mean for your customer engagement plans?

 So what’s a “brand”

There are two options:

1. Hope customers won't ask questions via Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and that your current customer service/marketing/PR/sales force will cope with the diverse demands placed on them. Clearly this is not realistic or smart.

2. Embrace social media, train up all employees and build a strong network of brand ambassadors.

What is a brand ambassador”? A brand ambassador is a passionate advocate of your products and company. They are someone, in any part of the organisation (from frontline staff to the CEO) who is proud to work there and to recommend your products to customers. There’s one other requirement that’s important: they must not be afraid of using social media to engage customers.

Here’s the 7-step guide on how you build a robust social media-enabled brand ambassador  program:

It all starts with a social media customer engagement policy. Here are 3 great examples from Intel, Coca-Cola, and Dell. Define who you want to approach as the first generation of brand ambassadors. Is it the marketing team? Customer service team? Sales force? Or perhaps employees from any part of  the organisation that are social media savvy? Ask for volunteers first, and then draft the right people as needed. Add customer/social engagement KPIs into each brand ambassador’s performance and importantly, make sure this is also a KPI of the executive team. If the CEO has these KPIs in his/her plan, then it will be clear organisational priority.

Training. This is important. The training program should cover the basics like media training (how to respond to external enquiries, what to say, what not to say, etc.), your company’s code of conduct, your policy on confidentiality and sharing information, as well as understanding social media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Blogs, Forums, etc.). More advanced modules should focus on tone of voice, how to correctly identify yourself as a company employee, the blurred line between personal and professional social media, and so on.

Provide tiers of engagement. Not all brand ambassadors are equal. Consider providing more intense training for employees who are already customer-facing, or who have high profile roles (the CEO, Marketing Director, Sales Director, head of product design, etc.). Ensure you have strong links back to the rest of the organisation, such as HR (for job enquiries), Customer Care (for customer service issues) or Sales. For example, studies have shown that 47% of people want customer service through social media, so it’s important your brand ambassadors know how to respond to service-related issues. Once you’ve got it right with the brand ambassadors, consider rolling it out for all employees. Dell is doing it and already has over 10,000 employees trained. Not only does this reduce the risk of things going wrong with employees using social media, it’s also 10,000 brand ambassadors who are actively engaging customers! Finally, consider getting help. This isn’t easy otherwise all companies would be doing it. There are specialists in every city who understand this space and who you can outsource this whole process to.

 

Author Johan du Toit
Read all of Johan's Posts

 

Marketing Aged Care - Gail Worthington-Eyre: Social Media = Customer Service

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