A new conversation
THE INTERACTIONS between companies and consumers, facilitated by social networking technologies, may change the way businesses not only market themselves but also provide support and deal with complaints.
Mike Stopforth, CEO of Internet consultancy Cerebra, says the increase in the usage of social networks has been driven primarily by the introduction of more connectivity over the past few years. "As clients have started to make noises online, so companies have realised they need to pay attention to this new medium."
Stopforth adds that companies paying attention to that sphere have typically taken one of two approaches. The first is the reactive approach, where companies use a variety of tools to monitor any comments about them on blogs or social networking sites and then decide how to respond.
The other approach is a more proactive one, where companies actively participate in the communities by setting up communications channels through various social media. Examples of that include the use of the social networking site Facebook by the likes of Absa and BMW.
One example of a company that’s used a new communications channel effectively is US cable and broadband provider Comcast, which created a "Comcast Cares" user identity on the microblogging site Twitter. The idea is to have an employee that would be able to target that community, which tends to have an influence disproportionate to its size in the US.
However, while using such social networking services to enhance existing client care offerings may have clearly defined benefits, the open nature of such services makes using them as a marketing tool more difficult.
Jonathan Hall, CEO of The Virtual Works, says because it’s almost impossible to get a grasp on exactly who is using a service such as Facebook, it’s difficult to apply conventional marketing strategies to that medium.
"When you talk about Facebook there’s no accurate information about how many South Africans are using the service and which demographic groups those people form part of," says Hall.
"Applying conventional targeting techniques to those users that rely on focusing specific products on specific income groups aren’t applicable here."
Finweek
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