With Facebook alone notching up 700 million users, more than four million of them in SA, social media has gone beyond hype.
It's now clear the contact centre industry must make use of it to improve customer satisfaction and improve productivity.
This was the general view of the speakers at the Customer Interact Forum in George yesterday.
Most of the speakers also quoted a study by Socialnomics which notes that: “Facebook alone accounts for 50% of mobile Internet traffic; imagine what this means for bad customer experience.”
Speakers agreed that customers use social media to share real experiences and recommendations. This includes the good, the bad and the ugly.
Most presenters also noted that clients are learning the art of self-service and developing a preference for instant service and progress, as their expectations are extending to enterprises.
Speaking at the event, Nigel Moulton, Avaya's director, product and solutions marketing, EMEA, revealed that visiting social sites is now more popular than personal e-mail. He added that 85% of technology customers are reading, viewing or contributing to social content.
“Time spent on social networks accounts for 10% of all Internet time, while 60% of Facebook users are 26 or older, and nearly 20% are 45 or older,” said Moulton.
He also noted that customer interactions are changing and contact centres need to be proficient in all channels.
Martin Dove, Dimension Data's MD of customer interactive solutions, in his presentation themed 'Social Media - Hype or Reality', revealed that a lot of companies now have Facebook pages to enhance their brands. “Unlike social media, traditional media focused on pushing information out, but provided limited avenues for feedback and discussion.
“It managed to get people thinking about current affairs and issues, but did not foster an environment for discussion, information sharing and problem solving. In other words, traditional media is not social.”
According to Dove, social media bridges the multiple gaps between pushing information out, receiving feedback, encouraging discussion and fostering thought leadership.
“For the first time, it allowed people to not just give feedback to the source, but discuss issues with other like-minded people and share information with their community. The focus of social media is on being social and engaging people,” he noted.
Bruce Eidsvik, Alcatel-Lucent's VP for strategic sales EMEA, said customers are now changing the way they are buying products.
“They are not making use of mass advertising to make decisions for buying a product. They are making use of social media to help them make the first-level selection process. You can't gang-market people anymore these days,” he said.
Eidsvik also pointed out that marketing is no longer influencing buying decisions as it used to. “What is influencing the buying criteria are advocates that use the product and this includes your network of peers and friends.”
Therefore, he explained, the contact centre becomes a much more important source of feedback on customer experience, happiness and loyalty. “Businesses should be able to use their social media strategies to enhance customer experience.”
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