A study conducted by Satmetrix in mid-2012 revealed that less than half of the companies it surveyed tracked and followed up on customer feedback in social media. An astonishing 28 percent do not track or respond, leaving customers to question their value to the businesses that they support. That lack of acknowledgment or engagement leaves the door wide open to competitive courtship.
Acquisition of customers through social networks is only part of the story. The brilliance of social networks is the opportunity to transform negative experiences into positive outcomes. Conversations inspire opportunities for product refinement or innovation to create remarkable experiences from the onset.
In 2007, I wrote a piece on how social media presented an opportunity to turn customer service into the “new” marketing, because retention is the new acquisition. For companies experimenting with social media, it’s time to break it out of the traditional call center and create a proactive group of expert agents.
The first mile of customer satisfaction – keeping you and me happy – must begin with reflection and introspection. To become customer-centric requires a change in how we value customers and the role they play in the decision-making cycles of those who make choices based on the shared experiences of others. The first mile is then paved through listening, governance and engagement.
To truly improve relationships and unlock advocacy requires that social media strategists work with customer strategists to create an integrated series of processes and defined roles and responsibilities. Doing so delivers a holistic experience that turns customers into stakeholders and stakeholders into protagonists of aspirational experiences. This is where your efforts should begin.
In the future, the new customer hierarchy will either work for you or against you. And if customers are going to talk about you, then give them something to talk about. Experiences are now the new “relationship.”
Excerpted with permission of the publisher, Wiley, from “What's the Future of Business? Changing the Way Businesses Create Experiences” by Brian Solis. Copyright © 2013 by Brian Solis. This book is available at all bookstores and online booksellers.
Brian Solis is Principal of Altimeter Group, a leading research-based advisory firm in Silicon Valley. He blogs at BrianSolis.com.
