Businesses expected to make better use of data, improve customer experience
In today’s Facebook- and Twitter-dominated social media world, businesses have achieved varying levels of success adopting and adapting to it. That’s never been more evident than in 2011.
Delta Airlines, for example, scored points in June when a passenger complained that his 74-year-old father-in-law had been placed on standby for a trip from Amsterdam to Seattle. Within an hour, the airline’s Twitter account responded and had the man on a reserved seat. Meanwhile, popular clothing designer Kenneth Cole faced a public backlash after playfully suggesting that the Arab Spring revolts in the Middle East had sprung as a result of his spring collection.
While social media can be a double-edged sword, experts predict businesses will use recently improved analytics tools in 2012 to expand their reach and improve the customer experience. Companies will most likely allocate more resources to social media and use the tools to better customize a user’s experience.
“More and more people can look at those analytics and determine what is, and what is not, working,” said Chris Snider, who is a multimedia journalism instructor at Drake University. He pointed out that Google Analytics and Facebook Insights, which tracks and reports user information and behavior to page owners, showed marked improvement in the information provided in 2011.“It should become more focused.”
With that focus will come a less obtrusive presence for businesses within the social media world. Company posts on social media websites will include fewer “spray and pray” mass advertisements and more targeted pitches, Snider said. Additionally, companies that may have some public relations problems can use social media to connect with customers directly.
When Snider complained on Twitter that his Internet was out, Mediacom officials contacted him and offered to remotely access his modem to find the problem. Episodes like that will certainly help change the public’s perception about a company, even if it’s a slow process.
“All people do is say bad things about Mediacom,” Snider said. “Now I have got a good story to tell about Mediacom.”
Businesses are expanding beyond using social media for customer services. More companies have hired employees devoted to social media, and some have hired complete teams to handle their social media accounts.
“We see the maturity in a lot of businesses around social media where it’s now a budgeted item and businesses have the resources for it,” said Nathan Wright, a Des Moines social media consultant with Lava Row. “Businesses now know that it has to be a part of their toolbox.”
As social media have evolved, so too has the way marketing departments interpret data. It is no longer enough to just take a look at how many fans or followers a company has or how many times fans share a company’s posts. Wright said the key is to analyze how your company posts are being shared. Updated analytics tools have made this easier.
“There is this urge to apply traditional communications or marketing metrics to this stuff,” he said. “If you do that, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment from day one.”
With sites like Facebook, Twitter and Google+ each claiming at least 60 million users, sharing information on public sites has become more the norm than the exception. Because of this, companies can mine seemingly endless data, given up willingly, for demographic information. The more resources a company can devote to this data, the quicker it can spot trends and adapt to changing customer behaviors.
“Companies like Best Buy or Netflix, they are going to be great at this, where they are interacting with people online but also being able to predict the changes in consumer sentiment about how they shop,” Wright said. “Now, what marketers do with that will be very interesting.”
Wright said he expects 2012 to be the year social media become even more mainstream as most trailing businesses play catch up.
Locally, fast-growing businesses have taken to social media to really push their products, a trend that does not surprise Snider, who said social media seem like a perfect way for small businesses to make their mark.
Jordan Lampe, Dwolla’s communications director, said social media have been at the center of the tech startup’s message since it began operating nationally in December 2010.
“It’s the 21st century. The way we connect with people has changed drastically,” he said. “It’s important to continue to find ways to express who we are and what we want to accomplish.”
Dwolla founder Ben Milne and Lampe often take to their personal Twitter accounts as well as the company’s to announce new products or blog posts or share media coverage of the company. Lampe said social media can help businesses connect directly with their customers.
Milne “started using it as a way to broadcast our culture, our values, and people gravitated toward that,” Lampe said. “It allowed Dwolla to be human. People are not used to a complicated payment network being human.”
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