The traditional mode of connecting with the customers through television, radio or newspaper is just a way of promotional marketing of products and services of a particular brand or a company. But nowadays with the presence of social media; many companies have built their web pages to get to know the customer better and to improve the levels of customer satisfaction.
Social media is now being considered as the new mode to connect with existing and new customers. Most commonly used social media websites by many people i.e. Facebook and Twitter are the areas which can be used for customer service. These web pages can also be used for brand values and their explanation.
Many of the social websites are used by different companies to communicate with their customers instead of pushing sale. As many companies try to market their brand and products, it is better to interact with the customer rather than using the same old marketing techniques.
Marketing on social media websites is also quite expensive. So, it is better to spend less money interacting with the customer and helping customer suggestion improve your work more.
Benefits of social media
Since the years older media such as printing, advertising has helped companies solely to market and push their products as well as brands; social media helps the customer get back to the companies. It gives them a chance to speak out loud what they feel or changes they want, the suggestions they are willing to give. It is also vital that different companies and small to large brands are listening to what the customer is saying and act on it as well.
Flexibility with social media
Since handling customer queries in offices, stores and shops is limited to office timings, but social media conversations and interactions with the customer have flexible timings. Even during odd hours the customer is able to put up his or her queries and the responsible person can answer it as per his time convenience.
Many companies are nowadays opting for social media as a channel to interact with their customer base so that they can make their services better for the years to come.
Caspar Nelson, who is the head of communications at Phones 4u stated that that they are going to use social media for the first time and putting a strong focus on the customers through the various web pages.
Justeat.co.uk is a website that allows its customers to order food from takeaways or other local outlets. The website has more than a million fans on Facebook and a whopping 40,000 followers on twitter. They use their Facebook page for having discussions with their customers and also telling people more about their brand.
First direct bank’s head of social media, Rebecca Dye added that they have a Facebook account along with two twitter ones. Of these one is completely dedicated for proper customer handling. She further added that social media usage increases a sense of community among the people.