by Social media has changed the way we communicate in the modern world. With billions of people living across the globe, having access to your life through social media, you are in a way showcasing your “personal brand” to the outside world. This factor can be of immense use to a brand in enhancing its social media marketing and brand image
Social Media can positively influence sales and to a large extent brand loyalty and connection. Although social media channels were initially used primarily for personal use and to maintain personal interactions, with their development and growing popularity they’ve become a valuable tool to build a community around brands.
Some of the key aspects of good customer support include activating external communication channels, increasing brand awareness, showing commitment to your consumer base, building value and trust in the minds of your customers, and giving the consumers a chance to reply with honest feedback. With social media each of these factors can be taken care of in an innovative manner.
Arguably, no other company has been as successful at building its brand around the customer, than Amazon has. The following quote from the Amazon CEO, Jeff Bezos, shows how important being customer-centric is to them and underlines their accomplishments to this day.
“We see our customers as invited guests to a party, and we are the hosts. It’s our job every day to make every important aspect of the customer experience a little bit better.”
But in 2009, when Amazon remotely deleted copies of the books “1984” and “Animal Farm” from users’ Kindles, people began to see the dark, “Big Brother” side of Amazon – one that Bezos had worked hard to steer clear of. The man however, in typical Bezos style, took to social media to apologize to his beloved customers, personally
This heart-felt apology had a massive impact on people’s perception of Amazon turning into yet another heartless corporate firm. This is how they responded to Bezos’ message:
By building relationships with consumers online, the brand adds a personal touch to customer support. This helps to make social media based customer support a critical and rapidly growing contact channel within the entire customer service ecosystem, complementing call-based customer service. It covers support services before, during and after purchase with extreme ease.
A key part of building a successful brand image is the customer support that goes with it. Over 60% of the people in the world think a quick response is the most important aspect of good customer support. So when the internet is ready to blur the boundaries caused by distance, using social media for customer service becomes a necessity for good branding.
In a day and age when a major part of your perception is built online, social media based customer support acts like an important cog in the clockwork of branding. Use it well and you will be known as a people’s brand. Miss out on it and you will be known as the brand the people forgot. It’s like Mr. Bezos said:
“If you make customers unhappy in the physical world, they might each tell six friends. If you make customers unhappy on the Internet, they can each tell 6,000.”
