Social media is no longer an option for corporate communicators
There wouldn't be many organisations today that aren't using social media as a communication channel. From the occasional Facebook post, to full-blown social media strategies that cover advertising, special promotions and daily scheduled updates, companies have come to see social media as a must-have. Just like every company, big and small, used to make sure they had a yellow pages or phone book entry, today social media is an essential communication channel between businesses and their customers.
The fact is, people are probably talking about your company, its service and products on Twitter, Facebook or Reddit anyway, so why wouldn’t you want to be part of the conversation? It doesn’t matter whether it’s a two-page rant in a Google+ community, or a selfie on Instagram with your latest menu offering and the hashtag #fail, social media lets you immediately and genuinely connect with your customers and critics in real-time. That’s something that the best television, magazine and billboard advertising still can’t offer you.
Studies are showing that companies who offer transparent and honest feedback to complaints on social media and review sites are viewed far more favourably than those that either try to ignore negative social commentary, or that gloss over complaints—here’s just one example of an academic exploration of how a company’s hostile reaction to a customer on social media backfired: Public Relations Crisis and Social Media.
While the content and data in this blog piece by Brandwatch are designed to make you think their products are awesome, there are some interesting numbers on the divide between social media response times consumers expect from companies, and what companies think is acceptable.
Apart from keeping track of what people are saying about you, or reminding your regular followers about being closed for an up-coming holiday, some are finding new ways to expand using social media.
Take a look at how the ABC is using Medium—an online publishing forum—as an extension of its social and traditional media strategy. [link: https://medium.com/abc-news-australia ] This is a clever way of offering more content in a different space, reaching a different audience, and following content trends.
It doesn’t matter what you think of social media or online banter, if your communication strategy doesn’t have a social media component then you are missing one of today’s most influential communication channels.
