Social Media- the new service channel

Let's face it: at this point in time, every brand wants to have a social media presence. Yes, it is important. But what exactly do you mean by the word 'presence'? Many of our favourite brands have created Facebook groups and fan pages, not to mention Twitter accounts. But are you really taking the biggest slice of the cake?

Today I came across a Twitter page of one of the top South African brands. Much to my disappointment, I noticed they only had 58 followers and, when the page loaded, I saw a sign saying "There is no content". I was eager to see whether they had any presence on Facebook, so I looked up their Facebook page. It was no surprise when I saw a page with some information on the company which I could easily have learnt by accessing the ‘About Us’ page on their website. Other than that, there was no content or engagement whatsoever on the actual Fan page.

This got me thinking about what opportunities the brand is missing out on.

It is evident that consumers want their voices to be heard. There is a constant buzz of conversation on Twitter and other social media channels which brands are not getting involved in. Consumers are increasingly using social media as a service channel. This is both good and bad - below are some issues, some solutions and some thought.

1. Scalability of social media

Ideally, social media is a platform which can be used to achieve the overall objectives of your company. When creating an online presence which is accessible to an unlimited audience it is important to set some guidelines and ground rules on what you want to achieve and how you are going to achieve it.

For instance, Facebook can be used as an engaging tool and support channel. Customers can access these pages and lodge any complaints which ideally should be dealt with on the page rather than being redirected to a call centre number or website. The whole idea of social media is to make it easier for a user to communicate to you. If I wanted to email you, then why would I waste time posting a comment on your Facebook wall which leads to me being asked to drop an email to your support address? 

Social media can be quite complex in the sense that a brand can communicate to an infinite number of people, but at the same time communicate on a one-on-one basis. Without a doubt this is better than a call centre approach, but it does still cost some time. In addition, the open communication platform means that even though a brand may be communicating directly to one person, more than one person is also gaining insight and knowledge into the brand. This drastically improves the scalability of the efforts.

2. Consumer training and expectation management

But how can a brand use this information to gain a competitive advantage? By careful planning, good engagement, building a community and general management, it is possible to condition customers to behave and react in a certain way. By reinforcing desired actions customers will learn to behave and respond in a particular manner. It is basic psychological theory which has proven to work over the years. Conversely, when there is little or no guidance from the brand, consumers are forced to look at peer feedback which typically reinforces all together the wrong behaviour.

Fair enough, but the big question for many brands is how to successfully condition customers on social media? The answer is consistency. Each actions from a customer should be either positively or negatively reinforced. Since this is an online platform, the action will be spread beyond just one customer. With time, customers will be conditioned to respond in a certain way (positive) each time the stimulus is presented. This allows a brand to build a situation where the reputation is self-managing through social norms.

3. Power relations

Prior to social media, consumers did not have a voice or a platform through which they could communicate with a brand. However, every consumer voice can have an impact, no matter how influential the brand may be. We have seen many brands lose a lot because they did not listen to one complaint. Social media has given consumers the power to drive and destroy a brand, which means even the biggest brands are now being put on the spot.

4. Target market disconnect

Even though we have an entire world to communicate with, a brand still needs to focus on their target market and keep in line with their behaviour and trends. This will allow a brand to improve their returns and ensure that the needs of the target market are met at each stage. Some common mistakes are that social media platforms are used to communicate with everyone or with groups which are not in the brand’s target market. This does not have any positive returns for the brand and leads to poor levels of engagement.

5. Internal buy-in

Social media needs to be integrated into the business structure and practices in order to optimise the benefits. Each department needs to work hand in hand in order to maximise on the strategic objectives of social media.

6. System integration

Having decided on the strategic way to integrate social media, it is important to have the tactical tools and elements too. This is important to ensure that the social media tactics can be implemented efficiently and effectively.

7. Thinking rationally

Yes, social media puts a brand on the spot and allows everyone to observe its responses, but it is important for brands to be rational. This means that, as a brand, you may not be able to satisfy and engage with everyone. Therefore, a brand needs to identify exactly what they want in a realistic manner so the outcomes can be achieved and returns can be maximised.

At the end of the day, social media should do less harm than good. As a brand, asking a customer to call your customer care hotline or drop an email to your technicians is simply increasing the process and frustration for them. Making the process as simple as possible, actively setting social norms and ensuring rapid resolution will drastically improve the success of social media as a support channel.