Companies should not ignore the power of social media but must start to investigate and prepare themselves for this new channel, says Mike Said of Brand Strategy.
Said says just a few years back, companies relied on a client's willingness to pick up the phone or type an e-mail as the sole methods of bringing their dissatisfaction to the company's attention once they had left the store.
“Departments or locations such as individual franchise outlets were often judged by the number of complaints received at head office and this was sometimes balanced against the number of compliments received,” he says.
He adds that with the advent of the Internet boom and corporate Web sites, comments and feedback forms became a new method by which companies could solicit information about their products, services and customer experiences.
Said notes that this, in turn, led to Web sites offering customers a platform on which to vent and voice their frustrations or to write compliments.
“Examples of this are www.hellopeter.com, which, unfortunately, has no restrictions on what is written about a company and.. is able to do so; but then charge companies for the right to respond, thereby making the site, at best, ineffective and, at worst, appear to be extortion restaurant guides that encourage the public to enter their feedback and numerous other examples,” he says.
Said also points out that with the advent of social media sites like Blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace, customers now have the ability to have entire conversations about the company and their brand without them even being aware and almost no means to control them.
“A number of excellent examples can be found at mashable.com and, for this reason, more and more companies are relying on external experts to help them monitor and respond to 'social media attacks' on their brands and a few are being even more proactive like Dell with their Ideastorm where they encourage customers to give them feedback and ideas that can improve their products and services,” Said notes.
Capitalising on popularity
Said explains that though there is the negative side of social media, companies should also take advantage of the popularity of different social media sites to improve their brands.
“LinkedIn can best be described as your personal or corporate formal CV. Detailed and accurate information about you and your company can be found here as well as recommendations from former and current employers, employees, service providers and friends.
“It is relatively simple to set up and does not require great effort to maintain. Internationally, LinkedIn is being used increasingly in recruitment,” he notes.
With Blogs, Said says gives companies an opportunity to display the real or human side of their organisation in a controlled environment.
“Blogs provide an excellent platform to share information with both existing and potential clients and are a popular method of developing 'expert' status. Blogs are soft sell and any attempt to turn them into part of your sales force will quickly drive readers away,” he says.
According to Said, Facebook is the casual informal side of businesses. “It is light and fun and interactive, inviting both comment and debate. It is often used to steer readers to your blog, which, in turn, steers them to your Web site, which, in turn, will hopefully convert to sales or new business over time.
“The most crucial tip I can give you about Facebook is that you control who develops and who contributes to the page on the company's behalf. All too often, a young secretary or junior member of staff believes they are doing the company a favour by setting up their Facebook page. If you are unsure what to do, seek help fast,” says Said.
In regards to Twitter, Said says: “I often liken Twitter to walking around a cocktail party making one liner comments and handing out your business card in the hope that someone will hold onto it with all other business cards they are receiving or even pass it on to someone who will.”
He adds that Twitter is a platform for introducing businesses without a company blog or Web site to refer to and drive traffic to. He also notes that it has little chance of adding value to organisations.
New kid on the block
Foursquare, notes Said, is the 'new kid on the block' and makes use of Geo-tagging to track.
“It further encourages you to share this information on your Twitter or Facebook profile, along with a short comment.
“One feature of Foursquare that appeals greatly to those businesses who use it correctly is the ability to claim a location and place specials there for all Foursquare users to unlock and redeem.”
He believes that although Foursquare users are just starting to emerge, they are often avid Facebook and Twitter users and should not be overlooked.
YouTube has recently overtaken Yahoo as the second most trafficked search engine, now ranking it just below Google, Said points out.
“This means that a presence on YouTube is now vital. Of course, your presence needs also be relevant and here is where external assistance may be required. You and your company have the ability to post informative and relevant videos on topics that are important to your clients.
“For example, if you are a Web designer, you may post a simple series of videos on how to register a domain, or update a blog or register for Twitter. With a commercial handheld video camera, inexpensive video editing software and some time, you can develop a corporate or personal profile or channel on YouTube.”
Concluding, Said says the single biggest factor that is preventing companies from making the leap into the social media sphere is fear and ignorance.
“Many senior executives and managers have adopted the 'I don't use it so nobody else will' attitude and are waking up too late or not at all to take advantage of the single biggest change in marketing and communications to sweep the world.
“If it is fear that is preventing you from joining the fast expanding digital world... get help, and get it now”.
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