Customer Experience Management – Part II: Social Media and CXM
This is the second part in a series on the elements of Customer Experience Management (CXM).
The use of social media channels plays a major role in customer experience management (CXM). Through the use of social media channels, such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+, businesses are able to attract and engage prospective clients. At the same time your business is able to continue to communicate your message and retain current customers. For these reasons,
Every business would like to have their clients for life, but that just won’t happen. New clients are needed to maintain and grow any business. The same holds true for social media connections. You will need to make more of them to maintain and grow your presence. Here are a few important points for attracting new clients:
- Be personal. Even though you can’t see them, you are interacting with people. They have feelings and bad moods. Whatever you can do to make the connection emulate an in-person relationship, the better.
- Be consistent with your brand. Does what you’re showing on your website and between your social media channels appear the same? Do you use similar language in your messaging? Not being clear on these points can cause confusion and result in a poor experience for a potential customer.
- Picture Perfect. More than ever the need to use images online to illustrate your point is apparent. Pictures receive more interaction on average than text-only messages.
- Target, Target and Target. Who are your best clients? Who are your typical customers? Who do you want those people to be? No one business can be everything to everyone on every social media channel. Pick which ones will get you in front of the right kind of people for your business.
- Be active. Like television commercials, your message only gets so much time in front of consumers. A post on Facebook may last up to four hours or a tweet on Twitter may be gone in a second. Pick the channels you want to work in and go for it!
Retaining Current Clients
Outside of picking up the phone or sending an email, using social media is a great way to provide an excellent customer experience. Studies have shown that active monitoring of social media accounts with appropriate responses leads to increased customer satisfaction. Many companies have created additional accounts on Twitter to solely accommodate for customer service questions and responses.
Engaging your customers properly in social media channels is a low-cost way to reach out and show them their value to your company. These “touches” can go from acknowledging a news story or a success they have just experienced, to sharing their announcements online. This lets them know that your company is on their side!
How do you provide excellent customer experiences? Leave a comment or join in on the conversation on our Facebook page.
