Utilising social media for your business
Posted 10 October 2006 at 12:50PM by David Morgan in Business blogging
Following Martin's post giving examples of Web 2.0 applications, here are some ideas on how to make social media work for you.
Social media covers a range of services such as wikis, blogs, podcasts, vlogs, file sharing applications and true social networks.
First some figures from the social media presentation Martin and I attended:
- There are 50 million blogs listed on Technorati and it's doubled every 6 months.
- MySpace, the biggest social networking site, has around 107 million members.
- Every day 100 million new video clips are loaded up onto YouTube by users.
Consumers clearly have an appetite for sharing things and getting involved online.
Social media can have big benefits for businesses as a more engaged audience is more likely to buy. The trick is finding ways to get customers engaged with your company.
Have a conversation
Business communications tend to be formal and one-way (sometimes refered to as 'broadcast communications'). This isn't that engaging. Blogs tend to be more conversational. If you write less formally, expose the personalities within the business and invite participation from customers, they will feel more involved with your business.
Also, people tend to buy from people they trust so use a blog to build your reputation as an expert by offering broader advice rather than just talking about your products.
Get customers to review products
One of the great features of Amazon and Ebay is customer feedback. Products on Amazon have customer ratings as well as reviews and 'other people who bought this also bought...' recommendations. On Ebay, confidence in buyers and sellers is generated by showing feedback from their previous trades.
If you sell a wide range of products, get customers to rate and review them. Recommend additional products based on what other people have bought and encourage customers to leave feedback on work you have previously done with them.
Customers can help each other
Successful companies aren't just good at selling, they also provide excellent customer service. But this doesn't mean you have to answer every question yourself. In the IT industry, forums are used extensively by customers to raise issues and have them answered by other customers.
Customers expect a certain level of help directly from you, but use forums to extend your service beyond that. For example, if you sell gardening equipment, you may still maintain your own support information specifically about your products but create forums that allow customers to discuss how best to use and maintain their equipment as well as broader issues around gardening.
Let customers show their passion
Customers often get really passionate about products and relish the opportunity to share that passion. For example, if you sell teddy bears, how about creating a 'postcard' area on your website where customers can post pictures of their bears on holiday? If users are able to modify your products, give them an area where they can share their ideas and get recognition from their peers.
When entering the world of social media, there are some risks. You need to allow honest customer feedback and that means posting the bad as well as good customer reviews. There is also the danger of your service being hijacked by competitors or malicious individuals.
But if you get it right, social media can bring you closer to customers, extend the quality and breadth of service you offer them and create loyal champions who promote your business for you.
It's not too hard for competitors to match your advertising spend and prices. But if you have a community of customers who are really engaged with your business, that's hard to copy.
For more information, have a look at Business Week's CEO guide to social networks and SocialMedia.biz or just type 'social networking' into Google search.
Tags: blog, blogging, forum, social media, social networking, wiki
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