Showing posts with label Customer Engagement. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Customer Engagement. Show all posts

Friday, March 9, 2018

YOUR Social Media Customer Service?


3 ways social media customer service impacts the bottom line..

Great social media customer service has a strong impact on a business’ bottom line.



Done well, it means customers will spend more, it improves efficiency and it generates data that you can use to improve services and benchmark against your competitors.

Done poorly, and you will be faced with spending precious resources digging your brand out of a hole.

Research published in Harvard Business Review found that customers who received a response to their query on social media were more likely not just to remain a customer, but to spend more money with the brand, and recommend it to others. And research from Sprout Social shows that answering a customer’s question on social media prompts 49 percent of consumers to purchase.

But delivering that exceptional customer service on social media means understanding (and focusing on) three fundamental areas: consumers’ expectation of a fast response and resolution time; the inexorable rise of chat bots and artificial intelligence in improving efficiency; and the ability to mine data to gain insight into what customers want.



Trend No. 1 -A rapid response is now standard.

Facebook Messenger, already widely used for customer service, is setting the standard for response times on social media. Unless a brand replies to 90 percent of queries, and—crucially—does this within 15 minutes (something we at The Social Element have been advising brands to include in their crisis plans for years), it won’t get the coveted fast responder status from Facebook, and it could, potentially, lose customers to those brands that respond quickly.

The demand for rapid response is only going to increase in 2018: In its second-quarter-2017 report, Sprout Social found that 48 percent of respondents valued a quick response on social media above any other action a brand could take.

Brands have a lot of work to do to meet these expectations. According to Sprout Social, the average brand response rate is just 12 percent. On average, a response takes 11 hours. That’s a long way short of the Facebook-recommended 15 minutes, and a lot of potential sales lost.



Trend No. 2 -Bots and humans must work together to improve efficiency, but not at the cost of satisfaction.

Forrester Research predicts that blended AI tools will “help improve sales outcomes and reduce customer-servicing costs.” But there’s a flip side. Forrester also says that this could lead to a decrease in customer satisfaction as brands adapt their customer-service offering to work with chat bots.

That’s a challenge for brands. Bots will undoubtedly help in the quest for faster response times, sifting out more mundane queries and providing automated responses. But if brands don’t ensure the quality of that response, the price of speed and efficiency will be dissatisfaction.

It’s a fine line to walk. Bots may help with basic queries, and that will free up time for humans to do what we do best—build relationships and delight customers. We need the intelligence of humans to respond engagingly and to deal with detailed or complex queries. Our view is always that bots power human engagement, and nowhere will that be clearer than in delivering social media customer service.




Trend No. 3 -Customer service data matters.

Social media customer service can deliver more than just a happy customer. It can create valuable data that will give you insight into what your customers want. Analyzing the data can highlight things like product or service issues, common problems or regional differences in customer demand. You can spot patterns in customer behavior that could be invaluable in informing your strategy.

Insights based on that data let you make data-led decisions on everything from product development to customer-service strategy. And you can benchmark your performance against that of your competitors to ensure that you’re staying a step ahead.

Guest Authored By Ashley Cooksley. Ashley is chief marketing officer at social media agency The Social Element. Follow Ashley on Twitter.





"Social media customer service isn’t an optional extra anymore. It’s a differentiator, a sales generator and a boost to profits.

No wonder 2018 is the year that brands are investing in great social media customer service.." -AshleyCooksley

    • Authored by:
      Fred Hansen Pied Piper of Social Media Marketing at YourWorldBrand.com & CEO of Millennium 7 Publishing Co. in Loveland, Colorado. I work deep in the trenches of social media strategy, community management and trends.  My interests include; online business educator, social media marketing, new marketing technology, skiing, hunting, 

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    Location: Loveland, CO 80538, USA

    Friday, March 2, 2018

    Social Media Strategy To Engage YOUR Team?


    How to implement a social media strategy that engages your team..




    We've all seen how social media has transformed consumer markets.

    But it has also impacted the landscape of business and employee communications. While company time was once limited to 9-5, that isn't the case anymore. Today, your team members represent your company 24/7 by Tweeting, posting and sharing on behalf of your brand.

    A recent study from Altimeter Group found that 90% of brands are exploring programs that encourage employee advocacy. This approach doesn't just expand a company's social media footprint but can enhance brand reputation, attract new followers and build trust with existing clients.

    A ripe opportunity exists to engage your employees in a company-wide social media strategy. But how can you do so successfully? Implement these three best practices to improve your communications in the year to come.



    Craft Social Media Guidelines

    Provide your team with the tools to be effective in the digital, social space. Your team members are powerful spokespeople for your company, so what they post should always be consistent with your PR and brand communications.

    Start by identifying the platforms that are the best fit for your brand and training your staff on how to use them. Your team may already be well-versed in Twitter, but do they know that you typically use it to share company news while thought-leadership content is distributed on LinkedIn?

    Explain where each key platform fits into your content strategy. Include useful tips like focusing less on products and more on business insights, which studies have shown 92% of B2B buyers prefer.

    Just as important is making sure your employees are attuned to your brand by familiarizing them with your company's mission, vision and voice.



    At Dell, employees must complete a training program known as Dell's Social Media University before they're given the green light to post. The on-boarding process doesn't just explain the content requirements of each social platform -- it also explains how best to interact with customers and when to involve a customer service professional. To make sure employees are always on the cutting edge of social media, Dell has offered dozens of classes that delve into up-and-coming technologies like live-streaming video and topics like how to deal with online trolls.

    Encourage Participation

    Once your team is sufficiently trained, it's time to encourage them to become active participants in your social media strategy. Provide material like original research, whitepapers, infographics and other data visualizations that your staff can easily share. LinkedIn reports that content shared by employees can increase total company engagement and double a business's usual click-through rate.



    Support employees in becoming independent brand ambassadors by sharing on their own terms.

    Start by motivating your executives to post on social media, which will set a positive example for other team members, drive employee buy-in and give employees an image, style and ethos to emulate. Work with HR to engage new team members during the on-boarding process, along with leaders in departments like sales and engineering to tap their employees' unique expertise.

    Our employee engagement team encourages staff members to update their LinkedIn profiles with up-to-date brand information, in addition to providing free headshots for those based in New York City. We want employees to feel proud they work for Dataminr, so we aim to provide the tools they need to show that on social media.

    Companies continue to find innovative ways to encourage employee social media activity:



    Some create a leaderboard that displays sharing activity and engagement levels, thus turning the effort into a contest with employee recognition opportunities and rewards.

    Content shared through Hewlett Packard's employee engagement program, which was created in conjunction with the HR and legal departments, has been known to receive eight times more engagement than content shared through a branded account. All of these methods can aid your company's recruitment strategy, too. Employees who are passionate about their place of work on social media can attract new potential candidates.

    It's also strategic to create custom hashtags that your staff can use when they post about a conference, webinar or other company-related event. When Intel team members post about Intel products, for example, they're encouraged to include the hashtag #IamIntel to disclose the relationship between the employee and the company. This proves especially vital when employee posts endorse your business.



    Be Prepared

    For all its advantages, social media comes with a modicum of risk — a reality we can't ignore. The online feedback your employees receive from clients may not always be favorable. No matter how low impact it may seem, there's always a chance that an employee will comment on a situation with an uninformed or insensitive point of view. I've seen brands react to news and events without first getting the entire story — and employees can easily fall into the same trap.

    Formulate a plan for how to react if an employee finds him or herself embroiled in a difficult situation or if a team member posts a negative comment. Just as you need guidelines for how and where to post, you should outline the rules for reacting to other social media users in real time and establish the consequences of going astray. Your brand is committed to being respectful to your customers, so your employees should be, too.

    Guest Authored By Kitty Borelli. Kitti is Senior Director of Marketing for corporate security and PR/crisis communications at Dataminr, managing lead gen and customer retention. Follow Kitty on Twitter.





    When you recruit your team to help you promote your brand and leverage the power of social media, your company can reap unprecedented benefits. This year, invite your staff to take part in growing your brand and business online. -KittyBorelli

      • Authored by:
        Fred Hansen Pied Piper of Social Media Marketing at YourWorldBr@nd.com & CEO of Millennium 7 Publishing Co. in Loveland, Colorado. I work deep in the trenches of social media strategy, community management and trends.  My interests include; online business educator, social media marketing, new marketing technology, skiing, hunting, fishing and The Rolling Stones..-Not necessarily in that order ;)
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      Location: Loveland, CO 80538, USA

      Friday, February 9, 2018

      Social Media Startup Mistakes YOU Can Avoid?


      15 mistakes startups make on social media that yours can easily sidestep..

      Too many platforms being used? Lack of visuals? Misuse of hashtags? No social media manager? The list goes on..



      If you're a new business owner, you likely know all too well that establishing a strong social media presence is a must.

      Like any marketing tool, however, social media is useful only when it's used effectively. Just posting a cute picture of your cat with your brand logo up in the corner won't cut it.

      So, if you recognize yourself here -- and are vowing to make your social media work (better) for you -- here are 15 social media mistakes and how to avoid them.



      1. Not Having A Target

      Every startup needs a business plan, and your plan for using social media needs to be part of it. The key to setting goals for social media is identifying your target customers, then determining where to find them. If your demographic is women, look to Pinterest, but if you're aiming for customers under 25, check out Snapchat.

      2. Not Using Metrics

      Having a target helps only if you measure how well you're hitting it. With tools like Facebook Insights and Twitter Analytics, you can track how customers reacted to specific posts, how often your brand is mentioned, which demographics responded most favorably and much more.

      3. Using Too Many Platforms

      It's easy to get caught up in the excitement of launching your brand, and join every site available. However, trying to juggle Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, and a partridge in a pear tree will lead only to burnout. Start with just a couple of platforms and post regularly.



      4. Posting The Same Content To Multiple Platforms

      Copying and pasting is for spammers, not entrepreneurs. Another reason to start small is so that you can adapt and optimize your content to the conventions of each platform. Reading a press release about your new product through Twitter and then seeing a photo of it on Instagram will keep customers engaged on multiple levels.

      5. Losing Out On Traffic

      You may do your best work at 2 a.m., but that doesn't mean your customers will be awake to read it. Make sure you are posting when your base is online. According to Buffer Social, Facebook engagement rates are highest on Thursdays and Fridays and hit a weekly low on Saturdays, whereas click-through rates on Twitter peak on the weekend.

      6. Writing Too Much

      The good things you have to say about your startup could fill an encyclopedia, but on social media, less is more. Facebook posts with 250 characters or less get 66 percent more engagement, and although all tweets are necessarily short, those with 100 characters or less still get 17 percent more engagement (again, according to Buffer Social).



      7. Misusing Hashtags

      Hashtags help cut down on characters and craft targeted exposure for your brand, but only if they are used strategically. Tweets with hashtags have double the engagement, but engagement drops when more than two hashtags are used. Photo captions crammed with hashtags are less likely to be read.

      8. Not Paying Attention To Visuals

      The impact of visual marketing is well established. Tweets with images are retweeted 150 percent more often, and Facebook posts with images get 2.3 times more engagement than their text-only counterparts. Blurry photos and a lot of stock footage will make your business appear amateurish. Instead, up your game with high quality images, infographics and videos.

      9. Neglecting Your Bio

      On sites like Instagram, your bio is the first thing potential customers see. Successful businesses combine necessary information with creative flair to make their brands stand out. Describe the values behind your company in a few brief words, show the human side of your business with photos of your team or even use emojis to demonstrate how to use your product.



      10. Not Responding To Customer Complaints

      Every business gets occasional complaints, but when a customer posts an angry rant to social media, the rest of your customers are there watching how you handle it. Always respond to complaints promptly and in a professional manner. Ignoring the complaint, deleting negative comments or posting a sarcastic retort will only make matters worse.

      11. Not Asking For Customer Feedback

      Never pass up an opportunity to find out what customers think, especially when it comes to a future product launch. Customers respond best when given a number of options. Post open-ended questions to get a dialogue started in the comments section, create polls and surveys for anonymous feedback or form focus groups using Google+Circles or Facebook Live Q&A.

      12. Promoting Too Much

      While it may seem counter intuitive, promoting your business too much can backfire. According to Social Media Today, just 20 percent of your posts should promote your brand and 80 percent should be other content. If you sell a line of protein supplements, for example, link to news articles about nutrition, share your favorite smoothie recipes and post photos of you and your protein-fueled kids crossing the finish line at your local 5K run.



      13. Lacking Engagement

      Social media doesn't work if you don't socialize. Growing your business requires connecting with like-minded individuals via private messaging, commenting, or sharing their content, not just pushing your own. If you aren't trying to find ways to add real value to the lives of your target audience, you could potentially be making a fatal social media mistake.

      14. Not Creating A Social Media Policy

      One off-color remark or embarrassing photo can do a lot of damage when shared umpteen times. Every company needs a written code of conduct for its social media users. Profanity and racist or sexist language are clearly problematic, but you should also consider the values of your base. If your company sells vegan-friendly clothing, for example, avoid posting a selfie with a plate of chicken wings.

      15. Not Hiring A Social Media Manager

      By now, you're wondering how you can possibly devote the time necessary to launch a social media campaign effectively. The answer may be that you can't. Resist the temptation to enlist your tech-savvy teenage nephew or your already-swamped secretary and instead hire a professional. Look for an applicant with technological background, writing skills, marketing experience and entrepreneurial vision to take your startup's social media to the next level.

      Guest Authored By AJ Agrawal. AJ He is CEO and Co-Founder of Alumnify, an alumni-engagement platform. He's a Growth Marketer, Entrepreneur and Content Creator for Entrepreneur, Forbes, FastCompany and Fortune Magazine. Follow AJ on Twitter.





      "15 mistakes startups make on social media that yours can easily sidestep..

      Too many platforms being used? Lack of visuals? Misuse of hashtags? No social media manager? The list goes on.." -AJAgrawal



        • Authored by:
          Fred Hansen Pied Piper of Social Media Marketing at YourWorldBr@nd.com & CEO of Millennium 7 Publishing Co. in Loveland, CO  where I work deep in the trenches of social media strategy, community management and trends.  My interests include; online business educator, social media marketing, new marketing technology, skiing, hunting, fishing and The Rolling Stones..-Not necessarily in that order ;)

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