Using Social Media to Deepen Customer Relations

by Paul Dunay

An obvious win for companies looking to jump into Social Media is in the Customer Support area. As more and more customers voice their opinions online, the choice is not if you should be responding using Social Media, but when are you going to start responding!

I recently saw figures from Josh Bernoff of Forrester Research that showed 92% of BtoB Technology buyers consider themselves engaging in some form of Social Media. If that isn’t a wake up call for Technology Companies, I don’t know what is!

So with numbers like that ensuring that your buyers are out there, then building a business case around Social Media to provide customer support becomes a lot easier. But what isn’t as widely understood is the “soft” benefits of reaching out to a customer in the virtual location and in the manner which the customer desires: it makes them feel empowered that the brand is listening, that the brand understands and cares about their preferences enough to interact with them the way in which they desire.

Today’s customer support through Contact Centers typically feels anonymous. When was the last time you had a truly personal interaction with a Contact Center employee? This is the reason that customers feel a lack of intimacy with the Contact Center.

So why wouldn't you take every opportunity for your brand to build better and deeper relations with every customer you can using Social Media for Customer Support?