Interaction with Customers Through Social Networking
There are many advantages to businesses when it comes to engaging in a social media campaign. It has well publicised about the amount of online users that interact within social networking websites, with the likes of Facebook and Twitter at the forefront of this activity. A recent study shown that social media and blogging represented 23% of all online activity, which is a figure that businesses need to pay attention too and ensure that they have a presence themselves.
A recent study from Nielsen shows that the top five reasons for customers to ‘like’ a brand on Facebook were as follows:
- They’re customers of the company
- To receive discounts and promotions
- To show others they support the brand
- To be the first to know info about the brand
- To gain access to exclusive content
One of the big issues that has arisen from corporate social media campaigns is how to respond to customers effectively and manage user engagement effectively. It has been found that 62% of customers to a brand have used social networking sites for customer service issues and 76% of users would be more likely to do the same if they better understood the tools available to them. Because of this, it is really important that as a company, there are processes and tools in place to give customers the chance to solve their issues or queries directly through social networking.
The main industries that have shown benefit from using social media for customer service issues are the retail, telecommunications and hospitality & travel industries, which have seen 45%, 35% and 34% respectively of customers solve customer service issues this way.
