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Social Media – not just a Marketing Effort
January 9th, 2009 • Uncategorized
Tags: customer service, product development, social media marketing
One of the best things about managing social media pro-actively is that you get feedback from your customer and prospect.
However, one of the scary things about managing social media pro-actively is that your boss and everyone else in the organization also sees this feedback. And if there’s one thing that customer service people have known for a long time, it is that the loudest voices tend to be the malcontents. Ask Frank at Comcast.
So the key lesson here is that if you are a brand manager and sprinkle a little $$$ behind engaging in social media, you need to be prepared to play a new kind of corporate quarterback. You are going to get feedback that is relevant for your brand far beyond the walls of marketing and PR. Your VP of Customer Service, your VP of Product Development, your VP of R&D, your SVP of Investor Relations and your head of Operations are all going to be interested in the nuggets you uncover as you start to talk with and get to know your social media influencers.
A lot of marketeers are at least somewhat familiar with this from their market research work, but the feedback from social media is a bit less scientific, so when you go to your CEO and say “the sentiment on our brand shifted negative yesterday and the main theme appears to be Britney Spears” be ready for some raised eyebrows. Most organizations are not yet equipped to handle the kind of rapid and detailed feedback that social media relationships offer – but this is the opportunity. The social media world can be a great hub of information for myriad departments – and as the purveyor’s of great, relevant and timely information, they can become a powerful group.
So embrace the feedback, share it and manage it. Helping your organization get close to your customers is a really, really good thing.
With more than 15 years of digital communications experience, I've delivered award-winning and sophisticated marketing solutions for Fortune 500 corporations, major government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and household-name consumer brands. I ensure the successful execution of digital and social media business strategies to build profitability and grow market share on behalf of our clients. I stay abreast of relevant new technologies in the Web 2.0/social media space in order to contribute a point of view while remaining focused on ROI to drive the right message to the right people at the right time.
I’ve been working in or around the social media revolution since 2005 and I am grateful to be exploring this new media landscape with com.motion’s clients. As managing director, my role is to guide our clients through the use of new technologies and to provide innovative ways to engage their stakeholders online. Shiny new Web 2.0 toys are great to play with but our recommendations are always strategic and focused on reaching the right people, with the right message across the right channels.
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