For any business that has yet to commit to a social media plan, 2011 is without doubt a crucial year. The bottom line is this: if you haven’t launched a social media plan yet, you’re going to have to in 2011.
Why? Well, there are a number of reasons but not least among them is that every other forward-looking business will have a plan in place. Of course, it does not always pay to follow the crowd and in some situations standing out from the pack is a great thing to do. But social media is not such an occasion. Lacking any social media plan will put a business at a significant disadvantage in 2011 and will begin to make that business look as if it does not understand the current market place. It isn’t enough to have any plan, the social media plan for 2011 needs to be thought out and planned with an eye on what a business wants to achieve. For instance, a business needs to look at how it communicates with its customers. If the answer to this is that it doesn’t, or they receive the occasional letter, then it is imperative that a social media plan is put in place as soon as possible.
Communication
One of the main reasons it is so important to launch a social media plan in 2011, is that this is how most companies will communicate with their customers. However, it goes further than this: the very way businesses and customers communicate is changing. Social media has allowed this process to become much more of a dialogue with the best companies allowing (and welcoming) customers to be part of the process. Social media is the ideal platform for this and rewards cross communication to the benefits of clients and employees.
Reputation Management
The other main reason for launching a social media plan in 2011 is that it is quickly becoming the best way to manage reputation and help prevent any damage to a brand. This is because there has been a fundamental shift in what happens when a customer has a complaint. Before social media and the advent of the Internet, the act of complaining was a private one. A customer normally called or wrote a letter that was dealt with by an individual within a company. Apart from perhaps friends and family, no one else was likely to know about the complaint and even if it happened to be similar to those being made by hundreds of others, the chances of anyone finding out were minimal.
Customer Service
The fundamental change is that customers now complain about a company and not to it. Frustrated customers will go online to a social media site and vent their anger for the entire world to see. If the complaint is shared by others it takes very little time for a groundswell of negative opinion to occur and in no time a company can have a major problem.
By engaging in social media the company can address the issue immediately. If they are already using social media platforms then they will be in an ideal position to become involved. They key here is not to use social media to just put across their side of the story, but to actively engage in a debate where they can work with customers to find a solution. This is a superb way to employ reputation management and actually to increase brand loyalty.
Businesses need to launch their social media plan in 2011 to ensure they are able to communicate effectively with their customers, keep on top of industry trends and be in a position to form a dialogue in the case of any complaints.
This is a great overview of the importance of social media. I think it’s especially important for businesses to be proactive in social media for the reasons you have outlined. They need to be responsive to customers who may have expressed dissatisfaction through various social networking sites. Such negativity spreads quickly. Towards that end, companies must also be vigilant in social media monitoring; there are online services that can handle this should they choose to outsource.
And on the positive, upbeat note, social media — Facebook especially — offers a floral business the chance to have direct interaction with customers. They can take full advantage of the major holidays such as Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day and generate excitement and enthusiasm in their customers and encourage them to place orders.
Being involved in social media means that a company can indeed react to angry customers and solve all their issues. Sometimes, for whatever reason people will get upset about the service they received and will post comments on a company’s website or social media accounts.
If that company isn’t ready with a response and doesn’t find a way to make peace with the customer(s), then it could mean big trouble for that business.