By Nick Johnson - April 16th, 2013

In this week's review of the week's big corporate social media stories, we look at customer service, going mobile and social media ownership.

The good, the bad and the ugly

A new infographic from Dimensional Research makes for interesting reading if your corporation is trying to get to grips with how social media is impacting on your business’ customer services function. Some of the key results from the research include:

  • 45% share bad customer service experiences and 30% share good customer service experiences via social media.
  • More have read positive reviews (69%) of customer service online than negative reviews (63%).
  • Participants ranked customer service as the #1 factor impacting on vendor trust.
  • 62% of B2B and 42% of B2C customers purchased more after a good customer service experience.
  • 66% of B2B and 52% of B2C customers stopped buying after a bad customer service interaction.
  • 88% have been influenced by an online customer service review when making a buying decision

 

What is even more telling and should be a call to action for all corporate customer services department heads is that over a third of respondents will even after two years, avoid the company they had the bad experience with. Moreover, 79% of respondents have their relationship with the company permanently damaged, and this group are households with high incomes! Time to overhaul your customer services function?

 

 

Brand mentions go mobile

A new study from Social Bakers has revealed that mobile continues to evolve in importance as a brand advocacy platform. Over two-thirds of tweets mention brands when sent via mobile devices. The iPhone dominates with nearly half of the tweets sent, with Android accounting for 20% of the traffic.

Commenting Jan Rezab, CEO of Social Bakers said: “As smartphones become cheaper and more accessible, people are increasingly using them to talk about brands on social media. The question is: are brands doing everything they can to make the most of this valuable channel? For example, ensuring that their links are optimized for mobile, that they properly monitor the channel, analyze the best time to engage with their followers, and respond to their questions in a timely fashion.”

These findings are also reinforced by a new infographic from xAd and Telmetrics clearly indicating that mobile is a key component of the purchase journey.

“As U.K. marketers outspend their global peers trying to reach mobile consumers, it is crucial to understand the U.K. mobile searcher. This study reveals critical insights about mobile purchase behaviours, including preferred research tools, activities and mobile purchase influences,” said Bill Dinan, president, Telmetrics. “While two-thirds of mobile searchers don’t have a specific brand in mind, they do cite the importance of local relevancy. Advertisers that include local cues such as location info and phone numbers in their ads can positively influence mobile purchase decisions.”

Businesses need to ensure that they pay close attention to mobile as a core customer touchpoint.

 

 

Who runs your social media activity?

Corporations that have been using social media are now looking closely at how these functions sit within their organisational structures. It’s too simplistic to place social media responsibility with just PR or marketing, as social media touches every aspect of a corporation’s activity.

A new infographic from Go-Gulf.com sheds some light on the tricky decision of where in an organisational structure social media should reside. It is telling that nearly three-quarters of those quizzed stated that the social media function is an add-on to their usual responsibilities, with only just under a quarter having a dedicated social media team. Marketing and PR continue to be the main residence for social media management, but corporate communications and customer services are growing their influence.

The report that the infographic is based on concludes: “Despite the potential for competition, the “many cooks” model seems to work fine. Almost 74% say the departments’ work together well or very well; with only 26% less than satisfied with the way things are going. Some participants reported ups and downs in interdepartmental relations. “Variable,” one wrote. “Some departments work together very well, others not so well.” Clearly at the moment one approach is not dominant, as each business develops it own approach to social media management.

 

 

Until next time….

 

The Useful Social Media team.

 

Next Reads

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