For more than 5 years, I have been reflecting on customer engagement on the social web. Our mission at Sleek was always simple, to find out the biggest challenges companies are facing when it comes to social media and why so many seem to blundering through. This is quite an unusual question for a market as mature as social CRM, but the thing is, companies are still not satisfied, and what's worse is this situation starts to hurt their business. Over-promising doesn't work and certainly doesn't solve Customers' problems either. It's about time we take that into account and adjust our approach in a dramatic new way. To do that, I believe it is more reasonable to understand where the Social CRM market went so wrong, and on which key trends everyone should base their customer strategy going forward.
Last year, I was struck by a very paradoxical situation. On one hand, the market was flooded with Social CRM vendors all selling pretty much the same thing - that is, a large social suite offering listening, engagement, analytics and ads. On the other hand, brands were still not satisfied with the way they addressed social media, both because they were questioning their past strategies, and because they couldn't tie the use of social tools to concrete business results. As Nate Elliott puts it in his latest Forrester report, "the social relationship platforms those marketers have hired to solve these problems are failing them: most marketers wouldn't recommend their SRP to a peer." Even though this survey only includes US vendors, I knew this to be even truer in Europe.
At Sleek, we've spent years creating the features that have made our clients' lives easier to manage social media, while competing with other vendors to offer even more features. Marketers preferred to focus on the number of features rather than spending time getting their strategy right and picking the right tools to implement it. This gap between an expanding supply and a growingly disillusioned demand meant that it was high time for us to challenge common assumptions, and come up with a fresh new vision.
Here are the 4 basic trends that we should all agree on when it comes to defining a customer engagement strategy on social media.
Speed
As chat and messaging apps flourish, instant messaging will tend to predominate interactions between users and brands. The way people use Facebook or Twitter to interact with brands reflects that trend, yet this is just the beginning. Companies need to prepare and likely adjust their entire strategy to meet the growing demand for instant experience, whether it is before, during or after transactions. The thing is, companies are not at all prepared.
Volume
Out of the 17 biggest global social media platforms (>100m users), 5 are instant messaging apps which were not even considered a relevant channel by brands just a few years ago. Actually, some, such as Snapchat, didn't even exist. Most of these social media platforms are mobile first, which lead to a significant increase in usage. More social media and more usage logically drive more content directed to brands. This poses a complex issue: how can brands possibly filter these messages, direct them in a relevant manner within the company, and at the very least store them so they can be used for other purposes (CRM, Market research, etc.)? Add speed to that, and it appears quite challenging.
Frequency
Conversation implies more than just one message. Calls are simple; you ask all your questions all at once. Conversations are shortened, but more frequent. Even more so if you react quickly in order to create a sense that you are there for your users, as they can talk to you anytime. That's good news for you, as social media is a great way for brands to get closer to their users and customers. Though it comes without saying that we should find a way to learn from those conversations, and get to know those users a little better over time.
Intelligence
Intelligence has two sides : an operational one, and an analytical one. It becomes increasingly necessary when it comes to optimize the way large volumes of conversations are filtered and managed. The R&D cost is high, but the gain is priceless both in terms of costs reduction and customer satisfaction. Intelligence is also valuable when it comes to analyze the voice of users / customers. The goal is to extract actionable insights from conversations, and use these to fine-tune offers and service to meet your user and customer expectations exactly. It's the holy grail of customer-centricity - being able to deliver a unique customer experience while allowing your business to evolve based on the customer's voice.
Speed, volume, frequency, intelligence... Sounds like somebody close to you, with whom you would chat a lot. You would discuss your needs, share events or contents. And the more you would interact with him/her, the better he/she would know you. Let's deal with it, Brands are getting closer to users, and it's just the beginning. As new ways to leverage social channels such as messaging apps appear, our relationship with them will soon be much more personal.