Nowadays you don't have to have the budget of big name companies like Nike or Mercedez to get your business noticed. Now we have social media...and it's a great thing. You can be a small business based on a small, remote island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and still connect with customers.
I'm probably preaching to the choir regarding this idea of using social media to connect with customers as many of you regular readers already realize the value of sites such as Twitter and Facebook. However, are you using these sites correctly is the question. This is something that I've been exploring as I create content for an upcoming seminar.
I've been continuously looking for examples of companies that are using social media to establish deeper relationships with their customers. At this very moment Southwest Airlines is one company that comes to mind. I remember when they were one of the first companies to start blogging and connecting with customers. And it wasn't just a marketing person blogging for the whole company - they recruited employees from different departments to contribute to the blog.
It's one thing to have a Twitter or Facebook account and blast out company news or special deals. It's another thing to use social networking sites to find out more about your customers like, dislikes, where they hang out, what their dog ate that day...well, maybe we don't necessarily want to know that last tidbit (unless your a dog food company), but you get the idea. Social networking offers an opportunity to let customers know that what they say does matter...and that you're listening.
I'm very passionate about social media. As part of my freelance writing and internet marketing services, social media is one area in which I help small businesses. So, if you're in the San Diego/Southern California area on Thursday, June 24, 2010, and want to learn how you can really connect with customers using social media, then I'd love for you to attend this seminar about using social media to enhance the customer service. This half-day seminar is being facilitated by my business mentor, Maureen Orey, of Workplace Learning and Performance Group.
If you're interested in promoting this seminar, I'm offering 10% commission of ticket sales. Click here to sign up to be an affiliate!
social media definitly works, sence we established our twitter account malpractice insurance we have had an increased traffic to our site
Social media is definitely a tool that can enhance the customer experience and get a good conversation started between customer and business. I recently blogged about this very subject and raised the point that social networking is today's technological word-of-mouth; it not only spreads quickly, but is persistent. Plus you can add real-time, or in the case of Twitter near-real-time communication through these media as well; they aren't just about static content.