| design58 | social media consultancy | huddersfield, west yorkshire, uk

Social media and customer after life

What happens to your customers or clients after they have bought your product or paid for your services, are they part of your network or community? The afterlife we are considering is seen as after sales when many businesses relinquish connections with the customer or client.

This after life is becoming more and more influential for businesses.  Effective use of the internet and social media chanels by customers means a happy customer is more likely to be talking about your product or service online, even if that is by simply liking your Facebook page .

Most businesses will tell you they get business through word of mouth, by keeping connected with your  customers and clients online with an active after service this creates trust and loyalty as well as developing an ongoing  relationship with the customer.  With most people active online, [ 60% of web users visit social network sites ,  Social Networking Watch has more posts in this field] all day everyday people are connecting with friends locally and globally sharing information, links, likes, fans, friends and followers.

As a business your product or service will be shared online, you can check this through Google Alerts and other services delivered through Google as well as at sites like www.socialmention.com .  This whole aspect of customer service and after life is excellently discussed and written about by Josh Bernoff in his latest book ‘Empowered’ .

It would seem only logical that a business not only delivers a service but also trys to sustain lasting relationships with its customers or clients. This could be seen as a premium customer service, not at all it should be the default customer service. In the long term this customer base will connect you with their network and then thier friends networks, people in these networks are not only active but experienced in the way they use technology to deliver information.

Sharing information in this way with people we trust has far more reliability, there is no need to do anything other than be you.  People want personal service and by providing this you can develop a long term relationship to benefit  your business rather than losing contact with your most valued asset a customer/client who is happy with your product or service.

If you have any thoughts on this subject, or if you know any examples businesses and relevant information that may help other readers please leave a comment below.

Thanks
Mark Longbottom

Social Media Part of Everything You Do

This is an excellent slideshow although maybe a little long, we found the Slide 76 to 99 covers a great deal of our thuoghts and plans. These slides are detailed below.

In fact social media is redefing virtually f***king everything including:
[but not limited to]

How We Work
How We Play
How We Learn
How We Share
How We Discover
How We Create
How We Complain
How We Celebrate
How We Mourn
How We Applaud
How We Influence
How We Collaborate
How We Investgate
How We Evaluate
And Even How We..[thats slide 92]

All media is now Social Media yet the basic rules stay the same

Rule 1 : Listen
Rule 2 : Engage
Rule 3 : Be Real
Rule 4 : Be Respectful
Rule 5 : Have Fun

The slideshow and words come from Marta Kaganwww.brandinfiltration.com ,
they would like your thoughts and so would we.

Moving forward socially

In the following post on Soical Media Explorer Jason Falls opens up what Clay Shirky is now writing about regarding his term ‘Cognitive Surplus’.

http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/2010/07/08/questioning-shirkys-cognitive-surplus/

With evidence growing that building branded communities and viral marketing  does not work and happens organically. [viral marketing a myth...]

Clay Shirky: How cognitive surplus will change the world

To quote Falls ‘we’re migrating away from (and our younger generations aren’t even starting on) TV addiction.’

This doesn’t result in all social technology use being of benefit globally, there are still going to be the good the bad and the ugly.

It wouldn’t be human otherwise, but amongst it all is real time engagement and collaboration rather than simple marketing and PR exploitation.

Social technologies provide the opportunity to help communities globally as well as our neighbours and families it doesn’t have to be one or the other. The choice is down to the individual reagrding the time available as stated throughout the post by falls and the talk by Shirky.

What do you think….

Social Media and You

Slide1
Looking at the relevance of social media, to you, your business and your customers/consumers/clients focusing on the importance of conversation.

Slide2
What does social media mean to you?

Slide3
Making contacts and connections in communities is not a new concept

Slide4
People and community are more important to business than ever before.

Slide5
2005 saw an explosion in wall to wall to wall interaction.

Slide6
We have more and more interruptions in our day from marketing.
We have the ability to ignore these marketing interruptions and we do.

Slide7
We wrote letters and got junk mail, we wrote emails and got spam.
Now we write direct messages to people who opt in to our network for information.

Slide8
What happens when we do listen to our community?
What happens when a community is enabled, inspired and influenced?
What happens if we engage with an inspired community?

Slide9
They share the information with their friends, followers and fans.

Slide10
Be Genuine, authentic, informative and real.
Engaged networks and communities provide trust and loyalty.
Information travels much further when it is shared.
Relationships have become more important than marketing.
People want companies to be open and approachable.

Slide11
Conversations and discussions will happen without being initiated by the company.
Companies are hanging on to the thought that they are in control.
Listening will improve your knowledge of your audience.

Slide12
It is not about message but the conversation that follows.

Slide13
The slideshow shows how relevant social media is when developing conversations between businesses and their customers/consumers/clients, and how understanding your target audience you are able to deliver added value to a service that they can benefit from.

Sharing not shouting.

Marketing once upon a time was about pushing a product or service and making a shout about it, a much harder process now consumers can produce more online content than the marketers.  Whilst producing content they also share information within various communities and networks.

Social media should be used in partnership with traditional methods of promotion and marketing but always with the same basic values used.  Being generous, informative and authentic will help your message go much further than walking into a room and blasting your message through the p a system.

So if you have a product, service or message and you want to tell people about it. Wouldn’t it be better to share information with your audience or market?

By sharing your information with friends, fans and followers the likelihood that your message is shared to their network is far higher. Down to the basic trust and loyalty a social media community and or network can deliver, whether this is your network or the larger network your friends open your message to with positive referrals.

Help your fans, followers and friends to share your information by being genuine, informative and authentic in your delivery.  Make them not only pass on your message because they know you but because they believe in what you do.

Any thoughts please comment below