Now that customers from every walk of life can spread what they think about businesses far and wide, keeping customers happier will finally be the priority many consumers always felt it should have been.
Does your company know how to manage what is being said about you online?
Do you know how to protect your online reputation or respond to Tweets on Twitter, postings on Facebook, or what bloggers write about you?
How will you integrate your customer support, your marketing team and your Social Media activities?
The good news is that there are new tools that provide capabilities to small businesses that until recently were only available to Fortune 1000 companies with enormous IT budgets and people who know how to implement and use them.
Like so many other subjects I write about here, this is all far too complicated for business owners or management to think they can go it alone. The reason I write about the best conferences so often is that they are the least expensive, fastest way to learn what you need and get processes in place to get results.
This is the only conference of this type I have seen and the level of expertise they bring make it worth the investment to any company willing to act now to get a competitive advantage.
Get the full details including C3 Conference Speakers and the C3 Conference Agenda which are available online now. If you want to know more about this new conjunction of traditional Customer Service and Social Media, you may find some early information about what is being called VRM – Vendor Relationship Management.
Instead of the seller controlling the customer, with VRM, the customer is in charge of the relationship – not the vendor.
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
I agree with you about the value of conferences in terms of getting the most education out of your money. I have been to several trade conferences and felt like I learned more at some of them than I had learned through school or on the job experience or anything else. One key piece of advice I would like to add is to bring a recording device with you so you can record the seminars and listen to them again after the conference is over.
What I think is bad is the whole “The customer is always right” thing.
Sometimes the customer is totally unreasonable but he will spread negative reviews about your company. And there is not much you can do.
And in general people are much faster inclined to get on the internet to write something about your company/product/service if they just had a negative experience than when they have a positive experience.
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Twitter: kermedia
February 16, 2011 at 8:33 am
Sounds like a good conference. Seems like the majority of business owners really don’t know where to begin managing their social media presence and customer service is one of the best ways a business can use social networks.
Nick would love you to read ..Google Algorithm Changes- Social Media SEO Now More Important Than Ever
Twitter: GrowMap
February 17, 2011 at 1:25 am
Hi Nick,
Many SEO “experts” and agencies don’t either. This is very new and we are all still developing best practices. I encourage small businesses to read my post on Small Business Internet Marketing for priorities and ask for advice from someone with as much experience as they can find.
growmap would love you to read ..Small Business Internet Marketing
Keep the consumer as a priority on every social network and in every market. That’s sound advice in any language.
Twitter: zyseosoftware
January 23, 2011 at 8:10 pm
Yeah with smaller capital but higher returns that’s great for business.
Twitter: dennisyu
January 22, 2011 at 7:44 pm
I’m looking forward to attending. I’ve heard a few of these folks speak– for example, Greg Sterling, and the topic is new. There are so many people that claim to be social media experts that it will be interesting to see how it’s done in practice from folks at this conference.
Dennis Yu would love you to read ..Groupon for a Denver Cosmetic Surgeon
This is a good news for all those who have small businesses. Now, they can have marketing very easy for them. And with an assurance of best results with a lesser cost.
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This is new to me. I never realized his could be possible. I think i have to spend time on this, studying and researching for more information on his regard. Thanks for pointing out these important facts on social media customer care and social media marketing.
Twitter: TheJohnSoares
January 17, 2011 at 12:18 pm
Gail, this looks interesting. I’ll share the conference with a few of my northern California contacts. San Francisco’s not far, and it’s a great city to visit.
John Soares would love you to read ..Why I Took a Blogging Break
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