Why business needs Facebook and Twitter
Trends begun in the mid-to-late nineties really became the dominant voice in their respective markets as more households went online. Since then, the growth of all things online has continued to gather pace and businesses have been forced to prioritise their online presence in line with how consumers now want to do business with them.
Simply having a website has not been an option for some time. A successful business must have an online strategy reaching out to all corners of the web that is integrated into its overall business plan, marrying the online, public-facing front end, and the business back end.
It brought with it other challenges, to be exploited by the web-savvy as opportunities. The web made customers more fickle. As soon as loyalty and choice were no longer inextricably linked with convenience and availability of physical locations, the need for smarter strategies and improved customer service increased, while businesses wrestled with scale at unprecedented levels.
That means keeping ever greater numbers of customers happy and understanding that they interact and communicate in diverse ways. There is no catch-all campaign to reach consumers, no more single solution for those looking to market a brand or understand a customer demographic.
Fortunately, technology tends not to create problems it cannot solve and understanding and processing an ever larger catchment area of consumers is made possible by technology talking to technology.
Social media is a term many companies just don’t understand. And many fail to grasp the value of consumer conversations via platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and the wider world of social networking. No longer are these merely a way for students to swap pictures of drunken nights out, they are a vital tool for businesses looking to understanding consumers of all ages. After all, what business wouldn’t want to tap into a focus group of millions of people in order to inform their decisions and improve their service?
Social media can drive sales
And it can also have a very real effect on sales. By observing social media conversations, Dell became aware there was a latent customer base conversing on Twitter and launched a dedicated Twitter stream. Now, according to the PC giant, its @DellOutlet Twitter stream has driven more than $2 million in sales in the US alone. It currently boasts more than 1.2 million followers and acts as a forum for fielding customer concerns and feedback.
The company says there is a very healthy market for reconditioned Dell machines, particularly in an economy where cost is an even greater consideration for most, but the supply is invariably not as constant as demand. Its inventory fluctuates, meaning the company must be more proactive and more transparent in order to create demand when there is supply.
The @DellOutlet Twitter stream enables Dell to inform consumers of special offers and the availability of machines and has enabled Dell to proactively build stronger ties with its consumer base. Companies would do well to follow this example and understand the power of conversations taking place online. And that need not mean a thousand pairs of eyes scouring Twitter feeds and search results.