Responding On Social Media

We hope you’ve tried your hand at social listening. It does take a little practice, but you’ve probably gained some insights into what people are talking about. Now it’s time to respond. And that’s the next step. Whether you are the local parlour waali or Reliance Jio, your customers are online. They are surfing the net, interacting with their friends, friends’ friends, padosi ka ladka and his friends, colleagues, and other brands in search of information, recommendations, and entertainment. If your company is not around to answer, a competitor will be. And then Hindi movie ke villain ke tarah he will take away your customer and anyone else who is listening to the conversation. What you need to do is dive into these conversations. It may be a little scary when customers are trashing your brand online. But remember 'darr ke aage jeet hai.' Because these complaints can be an opportunity to jump in and help rectify the situation, even improving the customer's experience with your brand. But for that you need to respond with the right kind of content. Content can fall into three categories. The learn and improve category, the explore and discovery category and the question and answer category. The learn and improve category of content is designed to help your customers use your product more fully. Explaining features of a mobile phone or how to install a particular software are the kinds of content that fall into this category. This kind of content helps make connections because it brings your offline customers to engage with you online. The next category, the Explore and discover category has content designed for those customers who want to get creative and find new ways to use your product. Social listening has probably given you an insight into what the needs and wants of your customers are, and you should tap into that when making this kind of content. For example MuhChamkaoing may put out videos on how to use their products to get the smoky eye effect. Putting out content in this category helps you become an authority. By putting out regular content on make-up ideas and techniques, for example, MuhChamkaoing slowly becomes an authority not just on its own products but also on make-up in general. It may have been great to have Pinky from Bathinda on your side endorsing your product. But eventually you want to become a power user within your community. And that’s exactly what this kind content does. It also helps build existing relationships because this kind of content keeps them coming back with their own challenges, or because they want to learn more. Remember, the more you give, the more authority you'll get back. The biggest gift this kind of content offers is that it also fosters ideation among your customers. Customers may begin to come to you with new ways of using your product that you may not even have thought of. Or they could help you come up with product development ideas. Do not overlook user-generated content. It is a gift! The last kind of content is the question answer kind. This type of content serves to meet customer support needs. Something has gone wrong. Your main goal here is to give your users some answers. Customer: The MuhChamkaoing foundation makes my skin very dry. What can I do? Customer service: Mix one drop of moisturizer to your foundation before applying it to your face. This should take care of the dryness. Customer: Can I purchase MuhChamkaoing products from a store? Customer service: We have three stores in Mumbai Customer: How do I return a product When you respond to questions, it shows that you are there for your customer even after they’ve already bought your product. There are a lot of questions out there and you probably cannot answer all of them. But don’t worry you don’t have to do it alone. Social media relies on conversations, so jump in and be a part of them. Soon your community will start answering and putting out content for you. Another important thing to do in this context is to identify potential advocates. No not that kind of advocate. Social media advocates. Your community will have people who like your brand and those who love it. But there is a deeper level of association. This is when a customer becomes willing to defend your brand. When you reach this defending stage, that’s when you’ve attained social media nirvana. Community members in this stage are like the fans of the Delhi Daredevils, even when you mess up (and lose consistently), they will remind everyone that your brand is here to stay. That is customer advocacy. As you might imagine, an advocate standing up for a brand is far more powerful than a brand standing up for itself. But customer advocacy is not something that happens overnight. Much like those Bournville chocolates, you have to earn it. Like any relationship, forming bonds that take you to the next level take time and energy. And much like other relationships these bonds depend on mutually complimentary needs. You can use social tools, site data, customer data, and even your own observations to help you pick out which customers are likely to go to bat for your brand. What’s most important to those potential advocates. What are they looking for? Are they fishing for recognition? Are they excited by exclusive access to news and/or content? Figure out what type of advocates your brand attracts and find ways to recognize them for their advocacy. You can never expect your community to handle 100% of the customer service issues or questions that arise. They aren't fully equipped, and it's not their job. But you can expect, after your initial investment and cultivation, that some community members will begin to step up and help out when they can and where appropriate. Think of how you can reward your most active participants. So, now since we’ve spoken about listening and responding, you know the basics. On the next episode we will talk about finding the right social network for your brand and some best practices to keep you ahead of the game.