Why business needs Facebook and Twitter
Crowdsourcing opinion
Tools already exist to help automate the processing and aggregation of social network content, meaning companies need no longer be oblivious to praise or criticism on such platforms. They will also be quicker to benefit from the ‘wisdom of crowds’. After all, if the overwhelming consensus on Twitter was that consumers hated a product only available in red, what company wouldn’t quickly roll out a black, blue or white version, and proactively contact consumers in the meantime to let them know that was coming?
You can deal with criticism better too. Imagine someone tweeting about your product with a problem or frustration. You want to ensure you address it and can track its resolution. It’s possible now to bring this Twitter conversation into your CRM application and treat as you would any other customer service call.
Such infinite potential for consumer intelligence gathering can only improve the handling of queries in-store or in the call centre, the planning of future product launches, the structuring of special offers and promotions and ultimately the bottom line.
The Starbucks example
The CEO of Starbucks appeared on Oprah last year following the success of the its My Starbucks Idea website which encouraged consumers to have their say on the company and its products. Starbucks now engages in millions of conversations with its customers every day, and the company says that those conversations and ideas have helped shape the where it is today. My Starbucks Idea has extended the company’s engagement with the Starbucks community online and created a dynamic forum to capture and act on customers’ best ideas. And it significantly raised Starbucks’ profile in the process.
To really hammer home the importance, consider this. Social networking is the number one activity on the web today and if Facebook were a country, it would be the fourth largest in the world. Facebook added 100 million users in just nine months and Yankee Group forecasts that the number of consumer accounts across the major social networks will grow to 229 million by 2012.
Stay off Twitter, miss out!
And if 229 million people were potentially talking about your business, wouldn’t you want to know about it and be able to shape, inform and join in that conversation? Similarly, can any business afford to let 229 million potential customers pass them by? Of course not.
It’s also worth thinking about where these 229 million people go to for product support and purchasing advice. Typically they ask Google, Twitter, Facebook or forums. The model has changed. They’re not calling your support teams, they’re calling on the collective wisdom of online communities and if organisations aren’t tapped into this then they’re losing a vitally importance channel to engage with customers.
Businesses need to be flexible; they need to grow as demand picks up and they need to be agile, to meet new opportunities quickly. But perhaps more importantly, they have to listen and understand.
–Lee Thompson is senior vice president, Corporate Sales, APAC, for Salesforce.com