More and more organizations are now paying attention to what their customers are saying on various social media channels
The new generation of customers spends far more time over social media channels than over phone calls or face-to-face conversations. They are not just more digitally savvy, they are also more open and forthcoming in their conversations over social platforms like Facebook, Twitter or WhatsApp. Therefore it is important that companies listen to what their customers are saying over these platforms and utilize this information to improve their branding and marketing strategies.
As customer service executives reach out to customers through various social channels, the entire approach to customer engagement is undergoing major transformation. Contact centers are investing in new technologies that can enable flexible multi-level interactions and provide comprehensive reporting capabilities to leverage customer data that is collected through various digital channels. A study by Markets and Markets predicts that global spending on combined social monitoring, mapping, and management tools is expected to increase from $2.2 billion to $17.92 billion by 2019.
With digital forms of communication overtaking voice-based contact, marketers and brand managers have also started developing targeted social media strategies to increase their brand exposure. Any brand looking at creating significant market impact today cannot afford to ignore the social channel.
Access to Instant Customer Feedback
Unlike the traditional ways of conducting market studies which could be time consuming and cumbersome, social listening can be leveraged to get instant customer feedback that is more relevant and useful. Real time tracking of product campaigns and customer reactions keeps you in sync with changing customer demands.
More Effective Marketing Strategies
Listening to social chatter not only helps marketers keep track of market trends, but allows them to assess their competitors in a more holistic way. Customer service organizations are increasingly deploying technology solutions to enable multi-channel customer management, data collection and analytics. This provides them with deep customer insights which can be extremely useful in formulating more effective marketing strategies.
Building Communities and Brand Image
Social Media is the new generation’s preferred way of connecting with each other to exchange new ideas, share opinions and gain access to useful information. Whether it is about voicing concerns or dissent about a certain product or just expressing excitement over a new thing, you can listen to all types of comments and views on these social channels. These social interactions do have a huge impact on the reputation of a brand. Hence it is important for customer-facing organizations to keep track of this social chatter.
Influencing the Influencers
While ‘social listening’ is an important tool for marketers to gauge market sentiment, it is also being used by them to influence public opinion. We have seen how powerful messages sent out over social channels impact product campaigns, social causes or even electoral results. First-time customers increasingly rely on social platforms to check out product reviews and customer feedback before making their buying decisions. Therefore, brand managers are devising new strategies to harness the influence of social media.
A ‘Unified Approach’ to Customer Management
The increasing focus on ‘social listening’ is leading to a dramatic change in the way customer service organizations and contact centers are managing customer interactions. There are using a more unified approach with multi-level interaction through Voice, Video, Chat, Email, SMS and Social Media. Integrated technology solutions with real time monitoring capabilities and extensive reporting features are being deployed for effective utilization of social listening. Customer data collected over these platforms is analyzed to draw meaningful insights related to customer behaviour and buying patterns.
With a large population of new generation customers embracing social media in a big way, these channels also can be instrumental in resolving customer complaints and enhancing customer service. Finally, no marketer will disagree with the fact that brands that care to ‘listen’ will always have an advantage against others that don’t. Companies looking at revitalizing their brands with better products, improved services and proactive customer engagement must focus on ‘social listening’ to create a more effective approach to brand management.
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About Teckinfo
Incorporated in 1995, Teckinfo Solutions Pvt. Ltd. is a leading provider of Converged Voice and Data Solutions. Teckinfo’s strength lies in developing and implementing comprehensive solutions for Contact Centers, Helpdesks, CRM and other Unified Communication Products and Solutions. Our solutions are highly scalable and flexible, thus empowering organizations to effectively facilitate customer engagement while improving the overall customer experience.
For more information on our state-of-the-art technology, please visit our page Social Media Integration.