Many companies are excited about the idea of using social media to connect directly to their customers; to be able to send them messages directly. This used to be available only through direct mail, email or phone calls, but now companies can message customers on a variety of social media. The problem is, that most of these companies don’t fully understand the power of social media, or that it has empowered their customers and given them control over the brand.
The Good
Social media technology advances have made it easier than ever to connect directly to customers, as well as see what they are saying about your company and products. Customers can also connect directly to each other, making it very easy for them to talk to each other, without your involvement. Social Media marketing is more cost effective than many other types of marketing, although it does take some time and patience. More importantly, you’ll have access to feedback and research directly from your customers, which used to take very expensive market research to acquire.
The Bad
Since customers can easily connect with each other, you no longer have control over your brand. While you may have your own marketing, customers are more likely to listen to each other than to you. You’re no longer the owner of your brand, you’re just a participant. But, it’s more important than ever to listen to what people are saying about your company and products in order to be able to participate at all.
The Ugly
When things go wrong, they can really go wrong, in a much more public way than ever before. If someone has a bad customer experience with your company, they can easily blog or post about it, which can be read by anyone else that bothers to search for your company name. Sometimes these customer experiences end up ranking much higher with search engines than the company’s own website. So, it’s very important to keep track of what’s being said, and to respond directly to people who have problems. The upside is that if you have a public dialog about an issue, other people are much more likely to get both sides of the story, and see you as being responsive.
Reality
Things aren’t likely to be good, bad or ugly for your organization with social media. Most organizations just aren’t big enough to have a lot of people care what they do. But, social media technologies do make it as easy for a small company to participate as a large one (other than trying to find the time). And any companies that aren’t participating are missing a huge opportunity to connect with their customers, build relationships, and collect valuable feedback.
(photo by Evil Erin @ Flickr CC)
Technorati tags: networking, marketing, sales, social networking, business, reputation, branding, brand, brand strategy, brand management
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