Social media provides a useful web of connections in the most unexpected ways. It is an inexpensive marketing tool designed to reach all types of customers. An array of profiles exist from animal, human, robot, and company accounts. The key to social media marketing is filtering through the junk accounts to reach real, beneficial accounts. The trending task is not to have an account, but rather to have an account that stands out among the rest.
Gaining credibility and building relationships in the e-community proves valuable to marketing your company
Every time your company gets “re-tweeted” “re-blogged” or “re-posted” its customer outreach grows.
But the real question is in the answering service industry, how can you achieve successful social media marketing?
Our experience has show that these two main approaches could prove to be an efficient, effective, and valuable use of your time.
But- before you take on these approaches you need to consider a few questions;
- What social media site or sites will you be using?
- How much money did you budget for advertisements?
- Who is your target audience?
- What is your overall goal?
The first approach:
Analysis and response
Social media allows the customer to portray an anonymous, online voice. This voice can travel much farther online than in previous days when it was restricted to comment cards and word of mouth. This bigger exposure can either be greatly beneficial or destructive to your company. It is important to analyze and respond to the customer’s voice. By reading comments and analyzing customer’s responses, your company gains free feedback. When the customer’s voice is positive, a response from your company will display interest and care. Thus reassuring the customer’s positive outlook of your company. When the customer leaves a constructive comment, it gives you an opportunity to better understand customer needs and expectations while allowing you to respond to their feedback real time. This will allow conversation and clarification between your business and your customers.
As an answering services company our customers are our top priority. That is why we love and embrace social media as it gives us a direct, real time link to their thoughts. A reality, which has proven invaluable as we learn how to uncover and respond to, needs in an ever-changing digital world.
The second approach:
Target and talk
While the first approach focuses on customers that are already aware of your company, this one strives to reach new customers. Known as hyper-targeting this approach utilizes public profile information such as demographics, hobbies, “likes” and other data collected from customer’s social media activity. When you hyper-target you throw your companies advertisement into a sea of customers of your choice. This is beneficial in ensuring that money spent on advertising is used in the most efficient and targeted ways.
Once your company’s name is thrown out among customers of your choice, they begin to generate talk. Talk amongst their followers often leads to more talk among those and so on. Generating talk about your company, especially a new product or service, will propel it forward.
As an answering servicing company this approach has proven helpful in terms of exposure. It allows us to share our vision throughout a wide range of companies and individuals while still targeting our message and controlling our advertising budget. If you are focused on expanding your customer base and gaining recognition for your brand, then this strategy may be exactly what you are looking for.
The take away
In all forms of marketing it is vital to consider and prioritize the customer’s needs. This transfers into social media marketing as well. Although your company is not having direct human interaction with customers, they are still being effecting and reacting as if you were. Respond to customers as if they were right in front of you. When analyzing and targeting customers, use social media to your advantage. A variety of systems exist solely to tell your company what customers are saying and what demographics they are in. Remember that talk on the internet travels faster and farther than word of mouth. Use all of these to your advantage and your company will be on its way to successful social media marketing!
At PCMSI we believe that our team is our most valuable asset. As a veteran in the answering services industry we have learned over the years to focus on the positives and work through the challenges. If you do that then the rest will fall into place. Thank you for stopping by today and if you have any questions about our call center or how we many be able to help you find success then please feel free to reach out. Our team stands ready to help any way that they can.
