A recent report from public relations company, Wildfire, states that technology companies are missing the point when it comes to social networking sites.
Their research has found that nine out of ten of these companies have a presence on at least two social networking sites, but most of these are disregarding the feedback from customers, and are therefore missing out on the powerful interactive aspect of these sites.
Essentially, these companies are viewing having a social networking presence as a box that must be ticked, but not a resource that can be of value. They miss out on a valuable business resource, but worst than that, they ignore the reality that the modern consumer audience will punish a brand for aloofness.
The study concluded that less than half of these leading technology brands have ever responded to a tweet on their Twitter pages. While only one in four companies responded to comments on their Facebook pages.
According to Danny Whatmough, a consultant at Wildfire “These organisations are using social networks like a press release or old media, but it has to be a two-way dialogue.”
“In some ways, not replying is worse than not having a presence at all. Firms have to monitor networks for mentions of their brands, and certainly respond when people get in touch.”
“These companies should be using these services to let people know about updates or patches and software changes,” said Whatmough. “But more than that, if people have questions then they should be responding with helpful advice and it becomes part of customer service.”
“It’s about being transparent and consumers react well to that, but it requires a big mind shift from companies,” he said.
Surveyed companies didn’t fare any better with their blogs, the report concluded, with less than half even bothering at all with a blog.
Where companies did have a blog, only 25% of blogs received comments on a regular basis, and only 9% of companies replied to comments on their posts.
Read the report: http://www.wildfirepr.co.uk/documents/social_media_report.pdf
August 24th, 2010 at 2:28 am
I couldn’t agree more, Social media must be treated socially to be competently exploited for business - Active participation
With my own online business, I have found social media loaded with potential. Directing e.g. Facebook and Twitter to maintain good after-sales relationships with your customers can be a useful way to use this presence - relevant to existing customers and attractive to new. This also frees businesses from what can be called the sad brochure approach.
It’s 2010 and “social network” must become a standard, central contributor to any serious marketing plan as a defined job responsibility, actively implemented.
Social media **screams** of potential - it’s no longer hard to access dialogue with your market - the possibilities for market research and sales development are **huge**
Engage
November 10th, 2010 at 11:02 am
[...] a two-way street. Give and take. That’s what blogging is all [...]