A company's digital channels directly reflect what they do in the physical world.
This is according to Lana Strydom, head of digital marketing and media in the Brand Management unit at First National Bank.
Speaking last week at the UX Masterclass, a biannual user experience class hosted by the UXalliance, Strydom explained that companies perform sales, marketing and customer service through their social media accounts.
For this reason, she says, it is essential that they manage their social media accounts as they would formal channels by ensuring the social media channel has functional integrity.
Strydom explained that the team managing a social media account must have a variety of skills so that they can quickly resolve problems reported by customers via a social media platform.
For example, she says, the team should include people with good communication skills, who can manage the front end by engaging with customers on the social media platform. This must be complemented by people with project management skills on the back end.
According to Strydom, it is important that the people on the back end can quickly locate and address an issue, and in this way resolve the problem.
She stressed that companies must have a well-defined strategy for how they deal with crises through this channel. For this reason, said Strydom, the team managing a company's social media account must understand the company's internal business processes.
When a company's social media account is managed effectively, it can save the company money. Strydom explained that if problems are addressed and resolved on Twitter, for example, customers do not have to go through call centres.
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