Here’s How Businesses Are Using Social Media To Get To The Top

Social media has plenty of uses. Recently, we’ve started to see it being used more and more in the business world. So, I thought I’d write a short piece on how businesses are using social media to get to the top:

Social Media Marketing & Advertising

Most businesses will primarily use social media for marketing and advertising purposes. Social media marketing is one of the top marketing techniques around right now. People are noticing how successful it can make their marketing campaigns.  As seen here websitepromoter.co.uk there are agencies that offer social media marketing services. The purpose is to give you as big a presence as possible on social media. This includes upping your follower count on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Google+. Every main social networking site you can think of. If you amass a large following on social media, it puts your business in a good position. You’ll be more well known, and the public will start to recognize your company more often.

 

Social media advertising is all about using adverts on social media. Yes, you could probably guess that based on the name! It’s a very popular method of advertising one’s business. Why? Because there are, literally, millions of people on social networking sites every day. Displaying adverts on Facebook or Twitter is a tactic destined for success. On Twitter, you can also promote your tweets so more people can see them and follow you. But, you can also have adverts placed that seamlessly blend into people’s timelines. Facebook is similar; you can promote your business page or get your adverts shown on people’s Facebook timelines. Like I said, it’s a very effective way of advertising your business to a mass audience.

SocialMedia_Cube

(Image provided by Flickr: https://flic.kr/p/e9Hsgr)

Customer Service & Engagement

Another huge way that businesses use social media is for customer service purposes. There’s nothing wrong with providing all your customer service over the phone. Some companies still do this, but social media provides you with another option. It gives you a way to communicate with customers and answer any queries instantly. In fact, loads of big businesses have accounts set up purely for customer service. These are accounts consumers can talk to, and they’ll help them out ASAP. It’s a fast and convenient way of dealing with any customer issues.

 

People like this type of customer service because it’s quick and easy. They don’t have to spend ages on the phone trying to get through to an advisor. All it takes is a couple of seconds to tweet or post a comment, and you’re sorted. Of course, there are a few tricks to providing customer service on social media, as seen here www.zendesk.com.  It brings me onto another mini point here too. Businesses use social media to engage with customers. It’s a fine way to open up a channel of communication between both parties. Businesses can keep their customers updated with any goings on and news.

 

Now you can see the main ways in which businesses are using social media to get on top. It’s further proof that social media isn’t just a place for teens to mess about and abuse celebrities. A lot can be done with it if used in the correct manner.  

 

Category: FaceBook, Relationships, Social Media, Twitter | No Comments »

Twitter ROI is 965% higher than Adwords. Guest post by Ehsan K

All businesses around the world operate in different ways and have different objective but, they all have one very important goal in common;  ROI.

ROI is a question you hear everywhere and almost by everyone; but in different shape and form of course.

Businesses adopted almost every new technology and platform to ensure they are seen by their customers and prospects at all times. This is particularly true when it comes to social media. However one thing has remained vague since adoption of social media, in 2009, by businesses; and that is ROI!

According to Javier Burón, Founder and CEO of SocialBro, 88% of marketers want to know how to measure ROI of their social media activities. Javier presented an interesting slide in which he broke down different channels (most used by marketers for advertising); and Twitter clearly stands out!

SocialBro

As it is evident above, every channel is pushing ROI; and of course deployment of a specific channel would depend on type of business and target audience. Thus, it is critical for businesses and marketers to know their audience well before spending money on any channel; in particular on social media where everything is all about conversation and content.

Good social media content has to be a combination of relevancy, reach and quality. Needless to say, no-one can guarantee and even achieve ROI in social media unless they are relevant and meaningful to their audience; which begins with listening. This is possibly why Twitter is constantly improving its usability and accessibility; to be easier for people to use the channel.

According to some anecdotal research, well over 65% of Twitter users are more likely to buy from brands they follow. So you can guess what would be the case if brands don’t interact with their followers on Twitter and mobile has a major role in converting Twitter followers to actual business customers. Therefore having an attribution model in place is very important; something can substantially help measuring ROI.

Search Engine Watch

So, unlike many brands competing for more followers on Twitter or more likes on Facebook; numbers, including number of posts by brands, are to some large extent irrelevant to success in social media, proactive engagement and meaningful conversations are the way forward. So, don’t worry about ROI, just try to make sense; and remain transparent and authentic at all times. this way people trust you and happily spend their money with you; then ROI in social media will no longer be vague.

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Category: Customer Service, Social Media, Twitter | No Comments »

Best Practices for Customer Service on Twitter

Ben MartinTwitter has become the go-to medium for customers looking to provide feedback or solve problems, brands must adapt their Twitter strategy to better serve their customers. Below you will find a check list that best-in-class brands have adopted to better handle customer service requests and maintain positive sentiment about their brand.

 

1.Dedicated handle
Brands who have adopted dedicated customer service handles have an easier time managing customer service requests for both the dedicated handle and for the brand’s main handle. With a dedicated handle, brands can ensure that customer service requests are being taken care of in a manner consistent with the brand’s overall customer retention strategy. A dedicated customer service handle can help your brand separate a wide range of customer service requests from other types of mentions so you can effectively monitor your social customer service process. In addition, it can be a great way to naturally gain followers. Through proactive monitoring and engagement, you have the ability to build positive sentiment around your brand, which will help increase your audience size and encourage engagement.

2.Dedicate team and the right tools
When a customer service handle isn’t staffed the response time increases dramatically while the response rates decrease. Knowing when most of your customer service requests come in via twitter can help you determine the best time to staff your customer service accounts. There are several great tools that can monitor your most active Tweet times.

3. Canned answers + resources
Having responses on-hand can help reduce your response time and help increase response rate, as your customer service representatives have more sophisticated resources available to resolve issues. In addition, outline where you’ll direct different types of customer service requests, whether you ask for more information from your customers, direct them to email, direct them to a webpage, or solve the issue in a direct message.

4. Rules of engagement and primary handle guidelines
If you’re debating on whether or not to set up a dedicated customer service handle, you’ll want to determine how to handle customer service requests that are directed to the primary handle. You’ll also want to monitor mentions of your brand name in the event that Twitter users aren’t following, or aren’t aware of your brand handles. Effective monitoring can help resolve customer issues before they start – helping to keep sentiments positive around your brand handle. Not only that, let your followers know (daily) when your customer service handle is staffed. This will help to reduce posts when that handle is not staffed and or set expectations of response time

5. Promoting your handle
When you’re setting up a dedicated customer service handle, consider where you’ll promote the handle – for example, you may want to link your handle via your customer support page, so that users have a range of options to contact your customer service representatives. You may want to also find a way to link your main handle to your customer service handle (for example, in your brand bio) so that users who visit your profile are aware that you’ve got a dedicated customer service handle.

6. Reducing your response time
This is one way of letting your followers know that they are important to your business. In addition, it’s a proactive way to address negative word of mouth that may affect the sentiment generated around your brand.

7. Responding to as many mentions as possible
Responding to a majority of requests is a great way to keep your followers happy, and engaged. If your brand responds to as many mentions as possible, your users are more likely to mention your brand handle more often, which means your handle has the potential to reach followers who may be outside your reach.

CONCLUSION:
Understanding the rules of engagement for customer service on Twitter is a crucial step to managing your overall customer service strategy. As more and more users turn to Twitter to ask questions, give feedback, praise or complain about a brand, brands need to be proactive in managing their brand image – by showing customers that they’re listening, and that they care. Since Twitter is a word-of-mouth platform, these steps are essential for any company looking to increase their business in the digital world.

Category: Customer Service, Relationships, Smarter Business, Twitter | No Comments »