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The president of a prominent advertising agency in the USA once said that Social Media puts the ‘public’ into PR and the ‘market’ into marketing. This as per me is a really concise and impactful representation of what social media means to the business world.
It is a major touchpoint that businesses should operate on in order to communicate with customers efficiently. The reason being the fact that today, approximately 56% of the world population has access to the Internet and an average adult spends close to 5 hours each day online.
The 80s and the 90s were all about the television industry growing as a platform for commercial organizations to advertise services and goods. However, the onset of the 2000s pushed us to a new millennium marked by the growing popularity of the World Wide Web.
Though the first workable prototype of the Internet came into existence in the 1960s, its popularity grew amongst the common man in the 2000s due to the sudden deluge of social media platforms. Platforms like Orkut, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram helped users create their own content and share it with the world.
Today, these sites have become a part and parcel of our lives connecting us with the world. Social media keeps us entertained, updated, and also somehow occupied. Amidst all this, platforms like Facebook emerged as an opportunity for businesses that wished to connect with the customers better.
These platforms offered better exposure and leads that can be pushed through the sales pipeline. It’s not that commercial organizations haven’t been online before the emergence of social media platforms. Most of the businesses have had websites for a long time but driving traffic to these sites was quite challenging previously.
The sudden outpour of social media sites bought more and more people online and presented businesses with an opportunity to advertise where they can be seen. Yes, the television industry still thrives as an entertainment and advertising medium but people today don’t have much time to watch television.
Apart from this, who will care to switch on the television when smartphones and the Internet, together have bought the world to the palm of our hands? This is the reason why businesses are increasingly switching to social media platforms and video streaming platforms to deliver impactful commercial messages.
Customer Support Becomes Social
Gone are the days, when business process outsourcing service providers were restricted to phone calls and Emails. Businesses in the outsourcing domain and beyond are now resorting to social media chat support, which is quick, dependable, and convenient!
A thriving business, irrespective of the fact that it is depending on outsourcing services or not, offers chat support via mediums like Twitter and Facebook. Now, you can conveniently get in touch with any business for queries or issues via your social media accounts.
Just search for the verified account of the business and type a message or tag them in a post stating your query or issue. They revert within minutes and most of the prominent names in the business world render diligent support because they know how restless today customers are.
Our generation, as a consumer base are used to instant everything! Instant coffee brew, instant service, we want it all within minutes and to serve these impatient consumers businesses had to evolve. This is the reason why today organizations including business process outsourcing service providers are becoming as social as their consumers are.
Addressing Flaws – The Social Media Pressure
Customers can call out businesses at any point today, they can complain, rate, and review without any restriction. They hold the power to force businesses to not just address their flaws but also work towards improving the same.
Commercial organizations today, are working under a constant pressure to check the loopholes in the operations and glitches in the products. If they don’t, then businesses are doomed to lose credibility due to the wrath of customers who are anything but satisfied with the services and products.
Business process outsourcing companies are turning out to be a major support in this matter. Their diligent services help organizations of all sizes develop immunity against the attacks of unsatisfied customers.
Social media support offered as a part of outsourcing services helps businesses in diligently addressing glitches and uncalled for circumstances that have led to the dissatisfaction of customers. Social media combined with outsourcing has turned out to be a powerful medium for earning and maintaining credibility in the market.
Caring For Your Customers Is Caring For Your Business
The emergence of social media as a customer service touchpoint has also been a reason behind businesses understanding why they need to care more about what their customers think. Businesses don’t just have to put up a show to express their care and gratitude, they need to reinforce the same with their actions.
Considering that as much as 70% of buying decision depends on past service experience, it is vital that customers feel valued in each interaction. Social media helps businesses respond quickly, making the customer feel like he/she is heard and there is a surety that the required action will be taken in a due course of time.
The advent of social media in the customer service domain has led to the strengthening of the bond between customers and businesses. It has helped businesses connect with customers better and care for their needs and aspirations, thus forging an association that brings forth not just profits but also recommendations.
Speeding Up The Support
Another major performance metric that has popularized social media in the customer service industry is the speed. While on call, an agent can attend one customer at a time but social media chat support helps him handle multiple queries at a time.
Apart from this, the speeding up of customer support also turned out to be fruitful for the FCR score. First call resolutions AKA first contact resolution, which is a major performance metric in the outsourcing service industry has helped businesses resolve issues expeditiously.
When compared to the traditional methods of customer service, social media sure is faster, highly responsive, and efficient. Ever since its debut in the business world in the early 2000s, it has proved its mettle in delivering great services whilst minimizing the cost and enhancing the delivery speed.
Bottom Line
Businesses that go an extra mile to adapt to the changing customer behavior and market dynamics are bound to succeed. This is exactly what the integration of social media has turned out to be for corporates operating across diverse verticals.
The deployment of social media in the customer service realm is an additional way to wow your customers. The businesses that understand the same have touched new milestones of success and they sure will continue to do so in the coming years.
In the words of Canadian digital marketing agency founder, Matt Goulart, “social media is about the people! Not about your business. Provide for the people and the people will provide for you.”
This is what businesses should seek in order to not just serve customers but create an experience that keeps them coming back. As you know, great service will not just keep your business running on stable revenue resources but will also open new avenues of growth and success.
