Customer Experience

By Nick Johnson - December 4th, 2013

Winter blues engagement, why FAQ’s are better than Twitter and understanding Facebook ads

FAQ’s answer many Twitter queries

Brands can already see that Twitter has transformed how customer services are now delivered. Consumers are increasingly turning to their favourite social media networks when they have a customer services query. However, new research from Transversal shows that in many cases a simply search of the brand’s website and the FAQs that should be updated often yields all the answers that the Twitter query contains.

Transversal used a brand sample taken from the Interband Best Global Brands 2013 and found that of the 1,616 questions posed at a sample of top brands over the course of a week, nearly a fifth (18.4%) were answerable on the website’s FAQ page.

The research, which analysed the questions directed by UK consumers at the Twitter accounts of 50 top global brands during a week in October, highlighted an on-going disconnect between the information resources offered by brands and the channels used by consumers to find them. Amongst the most frequent questions asked of brands on Twitter were those about product availability, complaints process and troubleshooting – all information that is typically held on FAQ pages.

Said Sharon King-Livesey, Head of Global Marketing at Transversal: “As the importance of customer service continues to grow, today’s consumers are in the fortunate position of having more ways to get in touch with brands than ever before. As brands invest more and more in their multichannel strategies, consumers should recognize that sometimes it is quicker to do the work themselves and self-serve. Take Twitter, a great tool for interacting with your favourite brands but it might not always be as instant a communication method as you think.”

Winter blues affects social shopping

As the days are now very short, those consumers with SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) will see a change in their shopping behaviour according to new research from Expion. Their conclusions show that engagement across social media networks can be affected.

“There are seasonal variations that occur just in how people use social,” says Mike Heffring, Expion CMO. “So you get these big peaks around Christmas and in the spring, when there’s a lot of social activity going on.” Marketers of course clearly understand how seasonal changes impacts on their conversion rates, but it seems that between now and the spring, brand owners need to work harder to ensure their levels of engagement across the social media space are maintained.

Understanding Facebook ads

The jury is still out regarding the overall effectiveness of Facebook ads, but a new infographic from Wishpond encapsulates the current state of Facebook ads. For brand owners, Facebook is an inevitable component of their marketing strategies, but the actual rules of engagement across this social media network have yet to be fully mapped out.

Ensuring ads are seen and engage with the massive pool of potential customers is driving the use of Facebook ads, and Facebook itself is learning fast how it can support its advertisers. CTR is improving, but the age-old mantra of building a multifaceted relationship over many channels with consumers still holds true. Facebook isn’t the only game in town, but is a game that every corporation needs to learn how to play.

Publishing on the go

Every corporation knows that updating their social media presence is a 24/7 exercise. Placing new content onto any social media service is now done on the move, but which tool is the best for making these updates? A new infographic from Business2Community gives a handy breakdown of the current leaders in this sector.

Until next time….

The Useful Social Media team.