In a close follow-up to a post from yesterday, I came across an interesting (Irish Business) article on the importance of social networking: “Get on the social ladder“. It lays out the: “ten ways to make social networks work for your company”.
Although slightly repetitive, some good material. In a nutshell though…
Social media, eg. web2.0 technologies, allows organisations to:
1. Create/ maintain ‘buzz’ about products (new/ existing) and company in general, allowing
- exponential (and free) replication (of the buzz) across internet
- user (consumer) generated marketing (per above)
- the best kind of advertising: user referrals
“I’m always conscious not to post too much on there, however, as you don’t want to put people off by over-doing it.”(Vincent Donnelly, founder Movies.ie)
2. Enable real-time answers to (simple) questions and complaints (to question that can be asked in less than 140 characters), this:
- allows user (consumer) generated answers
- relieves pressure on support staff to handle questions/ complaints that cannot be asked in 140 characters
- helps educate support staff on solutions discovered/ created by users (consumers)
3. Listen to/ follow consumer perceptions of your product/ service:
“No business can survive for long if its relationship with the customer ends at the point of purchase, so it is important to interact with them beyond the sales pitch.”
note: social media is a two- way communications tool- it should never be used to speak only TO customers
4. Respond real- time to damage control for negative publicity
- see the previous post: “Social Media: The Emergence of a Viable Business Model?” for examples.
5. Identify whole new segments of your market, including new colleagues and employees in process
- enabling consumers to generate new ways to use product/ service
