Ten tips to helps strengthen your customer experience through social media
1. How to strengthen your customer experience on four social media platforms Linda Ireland
2. Every customer experience starts with a person who has a need, desire or problem they would trade something of value (typically money) to have solved.
4. Where are your customerswithin their experience? What do customers expect on social platforms? Tipsfor strengthening your customer experience using four key social media tools.
5. Where – and when are your customers within their experience?
11. Social media early in the experience: 23.1 million discovernew brands or products through social media (up 22 percent from 2010); 22.5 million use social media to learnabout unfamiliar brands or products (up 9 percent); 17.8 million are strongly influencedin their purchase decisions by opinions in social media (up 19 percent); 15.1 million refer to social media before making purchasedecisions (up 29 percent)
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14. Customer-generated content on different platforms can play a prominent role as part of the valued “consideration set.”
Since we’re talking about how to use social media to strengthen your customer experience, let’s start with the end in mind. Every customer experience starts with a person who has a need, desire or problem they would trade something of value (typically money) to have solved.Every customer’s success is measured by if – and how well – their need was solved.
…So let’s talk about how social media on Facebook, Twitter, blogs and YouTube - 4 different social media platforms - can be used to help you solve your customers’ needs better than anyone else.
First, we’ll start with a little GPS. Where are your customers in their experience journey? What are their goals - or what are they doing - at each step? If we all think about where our customers are in their journey– or better yet, see things from their perspective -- we will have some common working space.We’ll spend a few minutes on the expectations held in common by customers today. And I’ve got 10 tips to share – clear things you can do to strengthen your experience using social media. --- Oh, I should say here that throughout our time together, and particularly regarding the tips I’ll share, I will focus on 4 platforms today: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Blogs.
While we’re here, your prospects and customers are in at many different places: They are in a moment – THEIR moment.While you may be doing literally 100’s of things for your customers as we speak (sending an invoice…etc) They are in one place. In one moment.
~ 10 minutesTheir experience is what happens and how they feel as they…realize the need, learn about options to solve it, try them out, buy, use the product or service to solve the need, and evolve to a new need over time. This geography…this chronology is common to all customers in all industries.So with a little awareness and respect for where your customers are, let’s bring social media to the party….
Published data about customers and social media is strongest when we talk about the EARLY steps of the customer experience. Here’s a great example – and a demonstration of why you’ve invested your time today in this important discussion:According to a recent Knowledge Networks study, teens and adult social media users in 2011 reported high levels of influence: • 23.1 million discover new brands or products through social media (up 22 percent from 2010); • 22.5 million use social media to learn about unfamiliar brands or products (up 9 percent); • 17.8 million are strongly influenced in their purchase decisions by opinions in social media (up 19 percent); • 15.1 million refer to social media before making purchase decisions (up 29 percent)
LED lighting manufacturer, Cree, uses video on YouTube to explain the benefits of LED lighting vs. halogen to their prospective business customers.Cree is meeting prospects before they buy – and this is a great example of the search power of YouTube. Speaking of YouTube’s search power…Did you know that YouTube is now the world’s 2nd largest search engine, behind google of course. It gets 2B hits a day. And while we can’t know how many of those 2B hits are looking for funny cat videos or the latest Lady GaGa appearance, we do know customers are using YouTube to search for options to solve needs, problems, desires. They’re searching your products. Your brands. Your organization. Perhaps even subconsciously, they’re creating a short list of good options to explore further. They’re using video content to get a sample, a taste of what life would be like if they used your product or service.
Indium uses blogging to influence buying decisions of prospects.14 bloggers blogging about everything from flux cleaning to solder to tombstoningBlogs are important to the early part of the experience because they show up in search results on Google. Are you coordinating your blog with your SEO strategy?This strategy for blogs + search has led to real business leads
Social is unique because of the share of global mindspace taken up by customer generated content. Here you:Control a little of the conversationInfluence some of the conversationAnd are in turn – influenced by what customers, prospects, naysayers and advocates are saying.
Blogs can be written to address customers after the sale as well. (This is how prospects envison what life looks like after the sale – because they’re watching you interact with existing customers). Customers are finding useful technical information that helps them leverage the investments or purchases they’ve already made. Here a blogger engineer is telling us that humidity and solder paste don’t mix. Geek humor!
On Twitter, clients and customers are asking questions about your products and services and giving you direct feedback in real time. They typically expect a faster response than other social networks.
15 minutesSocial media is raising some already high expectations from customers that your right hand knows what your left hand is doing. kristen-bradley tells the story of a business customer whose search engine made a mistake that adversely affected his company's SEO. He wanted the action reversed as soon as possible. After several attempts at contacting the company via phone to get the issue resolved, he released the following tweet:"Xbusiness customer service isn't just horribly bad, it is virtually non-existent. @Xbusiness“followed shortly by:"Messed up that I can't get a Xbusiness employee on the phone after 55min on hold, but I can get a Twitter response in less than 2 minutes.“I wasn’t there to see what go resolve between his first and 2nd tweets, but the lesson is clear: customers perceive they have a single relationship with your brand and organization. They don’t care about how many gerbils are running in how many wheels behind the curtain. Between you and them, it’s your responsibility to create an integrated customer experience.
SO!....We know every customer’s experience is a journey…they realize a needs, find options to solve it….try them out…and realize their dreams after a sale. We know social is playing an increasing role – Are there expectations about social media… that customers share along this journey? YES
What do customers expect in any social media? - To be heard by peers - To be heard by you - To provoke an (re)action - To find something/one authentic - To see the ‘edges’ of reality - SpeedIt’s NOT complicated! But the bar is high.
Most customers expect a response within 24 hours. There’s been some debate on this – particularly for B2B situations. Some even say that closing down at night or taking a day to respond is a demonstration of being human – being authentic. Match it to the need you’re solving – if you’re an tech support company, then PDQ is expected. Do what your customers or prospects would value plus 50% faster. Social media simply carries that responsibility.
On blogs, like the Deluxe blog written for small business owners, UPS’ Upside blog, customers expect useful information they can use to solve a real NEED. The closer content touches something that’s on a customer’s mind, the better you’ll engage prospects or customers. Blogs typically show up highly ranked in search results so they help prospects learn about you as an option. The content and comments there are a way to try you out: your culture, unique thinking or IP. Once there they are looking for a sample, a taste of what you could solve for the need that’s on their mind.
On blogs, like the Deluxe blog written for small business owners, UPS’ Upside blog, customers expect useful information they can use to solve a real NEED.
OnYouTube, customers are typically again looking for useful information they can use to solve a need—or make a purchase decision. Cisco uses video to educate its small business customers who are desperately seeking content to help them make decisions with the limited time they have.Note the views are not what we would expect for a consumer brand – if this were General Mills or Macy’s we would expect 10’s of thousands of hits. Cisco is using YouTube for a very narrow message – one that’s highly searchable. True for every brand but especially true for B2B: not all eyeballs in social media are good eyeballs.
On Facebook, your biggest fans are likely already customers. They expect unique and highly relevant information – “inside the club” info or activities that will help them solve a need quicklyHere, American express OPEN is asking biz owners on FB to share their best “how to hire” tip -- [next slide is the stream]
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Research—then jump in.Not every channel is right for each businessDon’t jump into a platform just because your competitor is there Have specific goals to measure for each siteListen on Facebook, TwitterUse our friend GoogleDuring the research phase, position your company and your people as resources.
Cisco knows a large number of its potential buyers use online video on a daily basis—why not meet them where they live and create video content that talks about new services and offerings, like their borderless networks they launched two years ago.
Determine where customers are in their experience—research, try, buy or evolve stage?
Find out what platforms your customers may be using for each phase (i.e., reading blogs for information during the research phase)Look for critical mass—you can’t cover it all.
I created a tool I’ll make available after the session today…summarizes what we’ve said today. YouTube- great in the early steps of the experience as prospects are using this incredibly popular search engine. Blogs play a big role in helping prospects “try” you out. They have their list of good options, and now they’re asking friends, digging through your site – anything they can do to find a sample or taste or snapshot of what life on the other side of a purchase will look. Facebook – a strong way to engage fans of your products, brands, or company.
AMEX uses Facebook to to enhance customer experience and build loyalty with unique offers like this.
Reference the detail…talk about adaptation by pfizer
If you’re there, customers are looking for validation. Respond to questions and concerns—quickly.Validate concerns or praise.Engage or offer to follow-up in another manner to solve issues.
Simple Facebook and Twitter Replies go a Long Way with Customers
The tangible part of the customer experience most directly solves a need. The intangible – or emotional – parts of the experience build loyalty and inspire advocacy. Not only can you impact both. You must be proactive and planful at both. Ideally, what should happen (product, process steps, location…) and what should customers feel (brand tone, clarity / level of language, personal connection…) as they pass through an experience with you?
A Starbucks exampleIn the dictionary, experience is something to be passed through… it’s both emotional and about the product. How can I have an opinion about Starbucks without considering both the coffee and the hang-out-here vibe of the place? [ or fess up – the evolution of their logo!]B2B THIS MEANS YOU, TOO. Story of “my customers don’t want a customer experience”
Customers have a single relationship with your organization. Their experience is a “single thing”—not made up of silos and different platforms managed by different functions.Even though different functions (customer service, marketing, PR) may manage different accounts on social media channels, doesn’t mean the customer cares a lick. Make sure you’re integrating effectively on the back-end.
Set up every person or department who touches social media for success. Use different Twitter handles, as was the case with this example from UPS. Decide which departments handle which issues or platforms or customer groups.
Make sure everyone within your organization—not just marketing—is aligned and on the same page when it comes to interacting with your customers via social media channels.This could take the form of regular staff meetings, articles across the organization’s intranet, talking points for key managers.If and when a piece of feedback comes in via a channel like Twitter, you then need to make sure you’re vetting and communicating with various departments and teams across your organization to make sure the issue is resolved.
Sleep Number is an example of a company that does a great job of aligning its customer experience efforts across channels. The company has four different Twitter accounts—all of which serve a different purpose, but are all coordinated. Here’s one featuring “@sleepnumbersara” who leads their Twitter chats and works to prove the SleepNumber promise for current customers on Twitter.You can also see their customer service team is monitoring and responding, too. Kristin Prahl, who you see in this slide on the Facebook post, is a Sleep Number rep. Chances are, she’s working closely with folks who are taking customer calls on the phone and responding to issues that come in via the Web. So, it’s an integrated team—again, my guess from the outside looking in.
You can also see their customer service team is monitoring and responding, too. Kristin Prahl, who you see in this slide on the Facebook post, is a Sleep Number rep. Chances are, she’s working closely with folks who are taking customer calls on the phone and responding to issues that come in via the Web. So, it’s an integrated team—again, my guess from the outside looking in.
Pick 1-2 platforms where you know your customer’s are interacting, manage those, measure results and build from there.Don’t bite off more than you can chew up front.
NeuroFocus is a marketing research firm that's "active" on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. They use neuroscience to tackle advertising, branding, product development questions – smart folks. But, I think they’re a good example of a firm that’s trying to do a bit too much. There are Twitter accounts for the company and the CEO, there are loads of media videos. They seem to be quoting themselves on each platform rather than engaging uniquely on each platform. So multiple platform investment with narrow engagement payoff. And, more importantly, they may not be focusing their time and energy in the *right* spots. Seems to me, a company like NeuroFocus would want to showcase their thought leadership, research and information. Wouldn’t it make more sense to do that via a blog (more searchable, shareable) or Slideshare (again, portable and searchable and where their customers live)?
NeuroFocus featured this video at SXSW last year—and it drew rave reviews. They seem to be focusing a lot on creating valuable video content—content, as we discussed, that could be searched on the second-largest engine on the Web. Why not devote even more time to this rather than sinking time into Twitter where they seem to be getting little traction? Not trying to diminish what NeuroFocus is trying to do—they’re doing a lot right. Just using them as an example of a company that might be trying to bite off a little too much.
Don’t play just because your competitors play.I was around during the first new economy boom. Mid to late 90’s. You just HAD to be on the web with an online store. Why? Because everyone else was doing it!Some days I feel like it’s 1997 all over again. Don’t invest in these 4 platforms – or any other social media play – because your competitors are there. Know your customers. Solve their need better than anyone else. What should happen and how should customers feel at each step of their experience: can that happen on Twitter? Can a company blog strengthen move you and your customers closer to that ideal, or target experience?....All social media is not the same. Go where you can meet your customers to solve their need.
Facebook, your blogs, Twitter and YouTube can help you strengthen your customer experience if used wisely to help customers realize a need, find options to solve it….try you out…and realize their dreams after a sale. Social media must help you earn their consideration…demonstrate how you’re the best one to solve their need…prove your promise after the sale and discover how their needs will change over time. Your reward for strengthening your customer experience is better financial performance. So your customers and I are wondering…are you ready?
“Now you have it – this is how you can use social media to strengthen your customer experience!”