The Business to Community blog (Twitter @b2community) published a post about What Your Customers Expect from Social Media that prompted me to comment and that comment turned into this post.
The major benefit to consumers when companies have a presence in social media is that they do not have to find or figure out how to use the method that company provides to get a quick answer.
Once someone knows how to ask a question on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn (and yes, IMHO, THOSE are the three most important social networks) they can find out what they want to know right away.
Companies need to understand that you may believe your process works wonderfully – and it probably does – FOR YOU – but many of your potential buyers do not have the aptitude or desire – nor do they want to invest their precious time – in figuring out how to interact with you. Only those who are highly motivated and/or Internet savvy will reach out to you YOUR WAY.
The companies that let customers reach them the
fast, EASY way will get the bulk of the business.
The number one reason someone fails to buy from you or complete a purchase or abandons a shopping cart is that they have an unanswered question. People have been conditioned all their lives to not want to make mistakes so as long as that question hangs over them they will not take action. A quick answer means another sale.
Whether you can “track” that sale back to social media or not is irrelevant. A sale is a sale. Think long term and wider instead of focusing on only what you can measure.
