Listening to customer and influencer conversations is table stakes for the social media marketing professional, but many people are still just getting started. Our three speakers in the June 23 webinar on "Harnessing the Voice of the Customer on Social Media" are all experienced at listening and turning customer comments into business value.
Katie Kendall (@ItsKatieKendall) of Walgreens opened with a wonderful story of how her group took note of an influential person who announced on Twitter that he was heading to a Walgreens store. They were able to scramble and arrange for a special welcome as well as for additional merchandise to be available. That's using listening to generate business.
Katie and panelists Kathleen Fetters (@nazamova), Social Media Intelligence and Strategies Manager at First Republic Bank, and Jason Kapler (@JasonKapler), Vice President of Marketing at LiveWorld, tackled a broad range of issues and audience questions during the hour.
Some of the key takeaways were:
- The choice of a listening platform is far less important than the skill of the people who are using it.
- Sentiment analysis is almost impossible to automate. You need human beings who can listen in and dissect the meaning behind the words customers use.
- Negativity is a gift. Customers who complain are asking you to fix a problem and make your business better. If you respond constructively they will stay loyal to you.
- Customers expect a rapid response on Twitter. Don't let questions or complaints languish for days.
To get a copy of the slides or to listen to the replay, please click here. You can also scan the highlights of this webinar on Twitter by reading the Storify below. Our next webinar is titled Is A Comprehensive Social Management Platform Truly Here? Be sure to sign up for it or view the schedule of other upcoming webinars here.