Wish you could find out what trends and preferences your customers are following or looking for ahead of your competitors? Thinking you’d need to have a crystal ball to find these things out?
Social media can be that crystal ball and provide you with real-time market data.
Social media can help you manage your business process by helping you collect customer feedback (and then actually using it to adjust your ways of doing things), circulating this new knowledge among your employees (especially to those who are charged with creating/changing business processes) and helping find those processes that can really contribute to helping you stand out from your competitors.
As an example, let’s say that a customer has received his or her product later than promised. If the client mentions his or her unhappiness on a social media site or blog post – and if you’re monitoring social media sites for mentions of your company’s name – you can start a discussion (both on the site and offline) with the customer about making the customer happy and learning how to improve your service the next time.
Internal social media sites and forums also can be quick tools that will help departments within the company communicate problems and solutions with each other.
Consider opening your external Facebook page to comments from consumers. Sure, you “risk” hearing things you don’t necessarily want to hear, but if customers and prospects see that you welcome their comments, you can be seen as transparent and honest – and you’ll be able to tackle problems customers have with your products/services quickly and publicly.
The Harvard Business Review has reported that fewer than 20 percent of a company’s processes really differentiate it in the eyes of its customers and prospects. Social media can really help your firm differentiate itself by, as just one example, presenting your firm’s followers (those who “like” your Facebook page and follow your Twitter feed, etc.) with a small gift that was based on what the company learned about the customers on their own social media feeds. This can provide for a truly memorable experience for those prospects/customers.
Has your Inland Empire company used social media to change your business processes for the better?
Speaking of improving processes, your company’s staffing and recruiting processes have an incredible amount of impact – either positive or negative – on your company’s bottom line. Why not partner with the IE’s staffing experts and contact a recruiter at Arrow Staffing? We look forward to hearing from you.