Strategic Social Media Use Requires Integration and Automation

To get the most value out of social media, companies need to incorporate it into their core business processes and tie it into modern automation tools, such as CRM systems and customer support applications. But what does this really mean? In the context of the 2012 Social Business Study, it means that social media tools and the use of data generated via those tools are strategically leveraged to improve business processes. For example, for product development social media is a tool to listen to customer ideas and feedback, and actually collaborate with social groups to test products and services. For sales, it's a way to identify leads and learn about customers. And for customer support, it's about responding to customers on social media and creating social advocates. The only way social media as a marketing tool to truly scale social media across your whole organization is to integrate it into your existing business processes. And the only way to do this cost-effectively is to leverage automation tools to connect social media at a higher level so that multiple areas of a business have access to the social listening and engagement. For example, your sales, CRM, marketing, customer support, and product development systems should all use social media and they should all tie together. Automation tools can help manage social, transactional and activity data so that it can be used to find insights, move the needle, and build relationships with customers. Organizations more strategic in their approach to social media are almost twice as likely to have already integrated social into their customer support social media marketing pricing processes. And as the percentage of service inquiries coming from social channels increases, companies who integrate social channels into traditional support process should stand a better chance to meet the growing expectations they are faced with. That is, customer interactions that are mobile, real time and often more frequent, through multiple channels. However, the customer's philosophy about customer service more or less remains the same: that ideally a company will respond in a timely manner and should help solve customers' problems promptly. For businesses to continue to deliver the level of product/service that customers expect, it is critical that they are where their customers are (in social networks, on mobile devices).

Benefits of Social Media for Business Every Skeptic Should Know

Sharing content with thousands of followers at once isn’t the only benefit of social media for business. Small businesses all over the world have been discovering the ways social media can contribute to success and growth in all areas of their companies. However, there are still skeptics who still don’t see or understand the benefits of social media for their business. In this post, we go over 10 benefits of social media for business that will social media marketing blog turn skeptics, like your boss (or even yourself!), into believers. For businesses in any industry, the key to success is knowing your audience. Social media makes this possible, and easier to accomplish than ever. With tools like Facebook Insights in Hootsuite you can learn the dominant languages spoken among your social media audience, as well as their age and gender. This knowledge can help you cater campaigns and product offers to your target audience, which will provide you a better return on investment. Geo-targeting is an effective way to send your message out to a specific audience or demographic based on their location. Social networks like Facebook and Twitter have tools that allow you to communicate the right kind of content to your audience. For example, social media marketing experts in Hootsuite you can target by ‘Location’, ‘Language’, ‘Age’, ‘Gender’, ‘Relationship status’, ‘Interested in’, and ‘Education’ on Facebook, and ‘Country(s)’ on Twitter. For example, if you want to send out a post to people who speak Spanish, geo-targeting is an easy and effective way to do it.

Social media helps find new customers and expand your audience

Social networks like Twitter allow small businesses to locate their current customers or seek out potential customers. For example, if you open a new coffee shop in the neighbourhood, you can create a geo search in Hootsuite to locate anyone tweeting about needing a morning cup of joe within your area. After locating those tweeting about coffee, you can start reaching out to them, and invite them to come try a hot bevvy at social media marketing articles your new coffee shop. Social media for business gives you instant access to positive or negative feedback, which provides you with valuable insights on the customer perspective. For example, if you launch a new product and share it on social media, you’ll instantly learn what your customers think of it. Another way to gain customer perspective with social media is by learning how they use your product; brands often base new products or services on their customers’ original ideas. Below is Contiki Holidays’ take on learning what people feel or think about their experience on a Contiki tour. With social media monitoring you can gain key information on your competitors, therefore improving your market intelligence. This kind of intel will allow you to make strategic business decisions in order to stay social media marketing dallas ahead of your competition. For example, you can create search streams in Hootsuite to monitor mentions of your competitor’s name or product. Based on your search results, you can improve your business to offer something your competitors are missing.