Finding Answers

Social media is the buzz these days for businesses both large and small.  As a medium it allows, for an investment of time, companies to engage with customers and potential clients.  Whole departments are being built and new companies are being founded to help guide messaging into the social media realm.  The focus is on listening to the customers, engage with them, and then convert them into a sale, a referral, or a fan.  There are lots of ways to build plans to do all of this.  Yet, in all of those methods none of them, so far, has addressed the customer experience.  What do they expect the experience of the customer to be?

I am going to grant you that they expect the customer to make a purchase, become a client, or even become a fan.  Those are actions that these marketing departments and social media consultants are seeking their audience to make.  Those might be the end result of the experience but they are not the entire customer experience.  The customer experience is much more than that… you have to visualize what that will be.

Does Your Team Have This Goal?

If you have ever played sports then you know that you have to visualize what the game will be like.  How each play of the game will unfold for you from the first whistle to the last. How each catch you will make will lead to success.  How you will rise to the occasion during a key moment.  How you will be the one that brings glory to the team.  Top athletes do this for every competition.  They can see themselves and the experience they expect for each moment of the game.  Businesses – more importantly you – should do this when it comes to social media.

The sad fact is that most do not, so this is an exceptional opportunity for you to fill the void and build a successful social media campaign.

A recent experience with Best Buy that Amber Nashlund had demonstrates that large companies have not thought through the customer experience on social media.  While the Best Buy twitter presence was able to answer Amber’s questions, Amber still left with an experience that felt disconnected and managed from afar.  End result: Amber purchased her product from someplace else.

Erika, of RedHeadWriting, discusses one of the major drawbacks that Twitter can bring to the customer experience in one of her latest rants.  The result: a hollow and empty experience which can lead Erika to miss an opportunity out of frustration.

So how can your business fill the void?

• Remember that you are engaging with people. Even if it is over the web, there is someone else on the other side of the engagement.  You would not have a sales representative or customer service representative just shout nonsense at you customers in person.  That would be insane, not to mention annoying.  You need to build any social media plan around the fact that it is people talking to people.
• Before you even make contact, envision what the conversation will be like. If you have the imagination – role-play what the conversation will be like.  This will help anticipate questions and listen.  As opposed to trying to offer solutions right out of the box when you start your conversation.
• You must measure the customer experience as part of your metrics. Once you visualize how you expect each social media engagement to go with your customers, you need to add that in how you measure the success of your social media plan.  Measuring clicks, conversions, etc. is important, as is the experience your customers will have.
• Journal your own customer experiences you have had. Incorporate it in your social media plan.  Improve upon the ones you liked and avoid like the plague those that sucked.

All things being equal customers refer, purchase, and follow people they like.  That is because the customer experience is one most important factor in that equation.  If the experience sucks, customers will flee.  Embrace social media but do not forget the experience you want your audience to have.  That is what Domino’s Pizza in Chicago has done and it has been a success!

What are you doing for your customer’s experience?

About the author:

Erroin A. Martin is a Business Advocate with the Von Gehr Consulting Group, LLC, a business coaching and consultancy provider for business owners, executives, and entrepreneurs. He has fifteen years experience working within the pharmaceutical, manufacturing, natural resources, medical devices, software, technology, business services, and agriculture industries in various levels of leadership across six continents. He has led diverse teams in sales, marketing, planning, and in the Army.  He currently coaches business leaders and physicians in the tools needed to plan for their success. Learn more about the Von Gehr Consulting Group, LLC at www.vongehrconsulting.com or call +1 203 433 8079.  You can follow him on Twitter at @Erroin

The Von Gehr Consulting Group, LLC, was founded by Erroin A. Martin to provide business coaching, business consulting, and other services to companies both large and small.  The primary goal is to have his clients be passionate about their business and reach the unachievable.