“What do you think of Facebook? Should our company be a part of these social networking phenomena or is this just a teen fad?”

First off, the time to decide on whether your company should be a part of the social networking phenomena has long since elapsed. When I last checked, Facebook had crossed the 600 million active users of which, an astounding 50% log in every single day. Twitter is Social viral advertisement. Although relatively new, it already has over 110 million users and the list grows daily.

In terms of sheer ‘population’, these social networking sites are larger than a few countries out there and there is more ‘activity’ going on at these social networking sites than does in small countries. Today we need to be talking not on whether or not your company should be a part of social networking sites but on the extent of your company’s involvement in the social network and the richness of the interaction between your organization and the cyber-citizen.

Many of my corporate clients have set up teams of personnel who proactively engage this digital consumer.
They are discovering new ways of receiving feedback and new methods of interacting with the customer. A major car dealer who is a client and a friend uses the ecommerce internet marketing to soft launch new cars to gauge the reaction of the market. The car details are released, and engine specifications dissected and scrutinized. Test runs are arranged and he says, more than 30% of these test runs result in a purchase. What is more, ever since the dealership has embraced the social networking site, sales of car accessories have jumped 280%.

If your company is still using the IVR and email method, you need to change and soon. IVR and email method is non personal and often frustrating. There’s simply too much time lag in these traditional methods.

When bosses of some companies simply refused to be a part of the social networks, I would often Google either their company name or one of their products. The results were always interesting. Often times, the bosses would be shocked (or sometimes delighted) at their customer comments on the state of customer service and these comments were made on the small business consulting marketing networks “so you see, whether you like it or not, your company already has a presence on the social media”. My point being, why not channel that presence in a way that benefits your company? If customers are discussing your company or your product wouldn’t you like to have your PR present at such discussions? If your brand image is important to you, you simply can’t ignore the social media.

I have a large number of clients who have staff who call up the disgruntled customers and resolve any irritants quickly. The happy customer in turn tweets his happiness or comments favorably on the state of service which in turn is noticed by the customer’s friend network and often picked up on Google as well. So if you’re still not on Facebook or Tweeter, it’s high time you got on to it.

Talk to us. RetailBizMD is one of the few companies that have all the skills (online store solutions, online brand marketing, ecommerce web hosting services, Inventory Management System, e-commerce trends, etc) required under one roof. We will be delighted to be a part of your success.

Visit here for more details: http://retailbizmd.com/Retail-Consulting-Services-0/