Social tools for Social Media

     It’s also important to search and comb through services that track conversations and relevant topics such as Technorati, Blogpulse, Bloglines, b5, Google Blog Search, Blog Catalog, and also MyBlogLog. These tools allow you to proactively monitor memes and determine your level of engagement.

     Social Media isn’t limited to blogs and communities. Social Media is also fueling social networks and the ability to find and host conversations related to brands and products. For example, Creating Facebook groups as well as searching other related groups are incredible opportunities to have conversations with people and as well, influence groups of people in the process.

     Several companies I work with have created company-hosted groups across

relevant social networks as well encouraged enthusiastic customers to do host conversations in places such as Ning. Ning is a Do It Yourself (DIY) social network, and it’s definitely a place where people congregate to share and learn, among other things of course.

     Another way to help customers is to bring them to you through your own company blog as well as hosting an integrated social network/discussion forum. Companies such as Leverage Software facilitate hosted conversations directly at the company site as a way of embracing customers and also encouraging peer-to-peer interaction…thus building and strengthening their community.

     Companies such as Satisfaction are creating “people-powered” customer service forums where companies and customers can create a channel dedicated to helping people use products more effectively by solving their problems and answering questions all in one place. In many cases, services such as Satisfaction are complementary to all other campaigns.

     Don’t count out micromedia tools…creating a presence in Twitter and Jaiku can help companies on the spot as these conversations are taking place.

     In the case of Twitter, companies can create an account where they can proactively update their customers aka “followers” with new updates, answers, etc. Customers can also contact them through “direct” messaging or public @companyname posts. #hashtags is a growing trend within the service that allows users to callout topics such as #customer+service for others to locate through a dedicated search tool.

     Jaiku integrated channels last year, for example, allowing anyone, in this case, companies, to create a dedicated pipe to share and reply to users looking for specific information and conversations.

     There’s still a 1.0 component to all of this however. User groups and forums haven’t gone away. They’re still thriving, and, determining which communities host conversations that matter to your business in critical in maintaining customer service and also instilling satisfaction and fostering enthusiasm.

     Which communities and tools should you use? You have to start by surveying the landscapes and listening. The results will tell you where to engage. Monitoring the culture of each community and the sociology of the interactions, will guide you in how to participate.

     Whatever you do, don’t’ engage as a marketer and don’t participate from a top down approach – meaning be helpful, not “put out” from having to answer the same things over and over again.

     Source: Customer service: the art of listening and engagement through Social Media (Brian Solis and Becky Carroll) e-book

Becoming the customer

     We’ve all heard that in Social Media, we can’t control the message. To some extent, we can’t control perception, but we can help steer it. Be helpful and ensure that your solutions and benefits are clear in a way that can be understood by the different demographics of users that populate your markets. And remember, they need to hear things differently across each segment, from the head, to the long tail across every chasm in between. It’s not just about the masses, but the niche markets as well. They all contribute to the bottom line.

     Graphic, and insight, courtesy of Chris Heuer

     The importance of engagement is to ensure that you engage on their terms according to the rules, and culture, across each community. Remember, in life, you are also customers. You buy things, you complain about products and services you don’t like, and you recommend those that you love. So, you have to be a customer to think like a customer. Approaching them any other way isn’t genuine and is going to deflate relationships and spark the possibility of pushing customers away.

     Be the people you want to help.

     Most importantly, make sure that you integrate customer success stories into your PR and marketing initiatives. Feature them on your blog. Invite them to events. Partner with them to be proactive voices to help rally other customers. After all, customers are the very thing that keep you in business. Show them that you know this by reaching out to them, not just waiting for them to come to you.

     Source: Customer service: the art of listening and engagement through Social Media (Brian Solis and Becky Carroll) e-book

Customer engagement online

     I have talked with many companies who tell me they aren’t sure if they want to start an online conversation with their customers. Cord Silverstein asks this question in his post Engage customers or die. He says, Is it a good thing for companies to try to engage their customers online? Does the good outweigh the possible repercussions that could come from it? And finally what are some of your ideas on how companies can engage online with their customers?

     Cord’s post and comments start a great discussion on this topic! I think part of the concern companies have about engaging their customers in conversation online is that they have not already been engaging in ANY conversations with customers. Rather, marketing and PR have often created one-way communication vehicles (advertisements, press releases, articles/white papers). Ongoing, two-way interaction with customers is how we build customer relationships. Social media, ideally, is just one more channel by which to reach out and build relationships with customers. It is a great channel to use because it enables immediate, two-way conversation! Therefore, if your customers are interacting online, you need to be out there talking with them and learning from them in the online space.

     Source: Customer service: the art of listening and engagement through Social Media (Brian Solis and Becky Carroll) e-book

With or without you

     Customers are having conversations about companies, with or without the company’s involvement with those discussions. Someone in Cord’s comments suggested the way to engage with customers online is to have your PR department be new media-savvy and do the correspondence. Having the “traditional” PR person as the one to respond concerns me, as I believe customers are looking for authentic responses, not carefully crafted company statements.

     Creating a place on your own site, such as a community or a blog, is a great way to keep the conversation in your backyard - as long as you allow comments and take the time to respond. Southwest Airlines has done a good job of engaging with customers online, and they use their blog as a feedback channel for ideas, concerns, and questions. Everyone at SWA takes the time to write and respond, including pilots and the CEO. For example, their recent business decision on whether or not to assign seats was put to their customers in a few different blog posts; the most recent one elicited over 360 comments!

     Source: Customer service: the art of listening and engagement through Social Media (Brian Solis and Becky Carroll) e-book

Conversation is key to customer relationships

     Think about it. Can you get to know a new person you meet without having some kind of conversation? Whether it is in person, over email, or on a Facebook wall, there has to be some type of interaction in order to progress the relationship.

     Customer relationships are no different! It is important to go where your customers are (be that online, at a retail store, in their own place of business), get to know them, find out their needs, and start doing something different based on what you learn. Customer trust and relationships will build, and the best ones will lead to more customers as they tell others about you. Start the conversation!

     Source: Customer service: the art of listening and engagement through Social Media (Brian Solis and Becky Carroll) e-book