Social media is a powerful marketing tool that any business would be wise to take advantage of. Millions of people use social media everyday for everything from sharing photos to voicing complaints. To keep in touch and stay on the same level as their customers businesses need to follow suit and embrace social media as a way to communicate with their customers. Many businesses have already started to utilize the benefits of social media to assist with their customer relationship management. By using social media businesses are better able to maintain an active dialogue with their target audience and deal with any issues immediately.
The home improvement store Home Depot is one business that has found social media to be a beneficial tool to communicate with their customers. On the Home Depot Facebook page customers are able to post comments about the company. This enables customers to voice a concern to them in a more personable way than having to go through the standard corporate channels. Home Depot can follow the dialogue on their page and learn what their customers are thinking. If a customer has a complaint Home Depot can see it and respond quickly. If a customer has a great experience with the company and shares this on the page everyone can see it and want to shop there. This is essentially free advertising for the company.
The cable service Comcast has jumped on the social media bandwagon as well with their own Twitter account which has served to enhance their customer service ratings. Anyone with anything to say about Comcast can voice their opinion to @Comcastcares. Comcast monitors this Twitter account very closely. Any unhappiness voiced by a Comcast customer about the company is dealt with immediately. Within minutes the complainant will receive a response from a representative at ComcastCares. Anyone following the person making the complaint on Twitter can see the response and see that Comcast truly does care and is trying to the resolve the issue. This demonstration of a quick and sincere attempt to deal with dissatisfaction shows their customers and any potential future customers that Comcast values their business.
The desktop and laptop company Dell takes business use of social media to a whole new level. They have several Twitter handles in addition to a Facebook page. They maintain a blog in which they interact and communicate with customers and a forum where many answers to many common questions can be quickly found. A few years ago they even launched their own social website where anyone can make suggestions regarding their services and products. Dell uses their social media presence to promote savings to the customers and resolve any customer discontent. Any customer complaints are handled promptly with a response. This has not only increased customer satisfaction with the company, it has led to a dramatic increase in sales as well.
By using social media businesses are better able to maintain an active dialogue with their customers and deal with any issues that come up immediately. By responding to any discontent within their customer base they satisfy the customer and look good to anyone else reading their response. This offers the benefit of retaining customers and gaining new ones. Any positive experiences customers share can be viewed by everyone. This far outweighs anything positive the company says about itself to bring in more customers. When actual people leave positive feedback it is far more valuable than any expensive ad campaign.
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Tags: comcast, customer relationship management, dell, home depot, social crm
