Social Media: Your Next Digital Communications Channel.
Kia ora all! I’m officially back in business at Leftfield Interactive! Awhile back I wrote a post highlighting my man crush on Rob Fyfe and the way Air NZ had a great PR win! Since then it’s been eerily quiet, and that’s mostly due to the fact that a) I went to watch the All Whites kick football butt, and b) we’ve been super duper busy!
One of the reasons we’ve been really busy has been social media. Social media is one of the main reasons I joined Leftfield Interactive, that and the fact that I get to wear the Panda Hat of AWESOMENESS each time I have a moment of brilliance. Social media seems to be a bit of a buzz term at the moment: you hear phrases like “I’ll tweet you” or “come ‘like’ us on Facebook” and “don’t forget to check in each time you come”, but for some people this just doesn’t make sense!
So that is my goal today: to give you a basic outline of social media and why you and your business should seriously consider this as one of your digital communication channels.
To start with I thought instead of me trying to explain social media I’d provide you with this SlideShare presentation which sums it up brilliantly!
The world of communications has been flipped on its head by social media. In the past the communications process was very much one-way traffic – an organisation would send their message to the relevant communication channels like print and television and then they would send your message onto your consumers. Social media provides the first communication channel that is thoroughly two-way and to such an extent that it is like having conversations with your customers all the time.
The way social media achieves this two-way communication is by providing very clear and easy to use feedback channels for your customers. When you send a message to your Facebook fan base, or those following your corporate Twitter account, they are all able to respond quickly and efficiently. The implications of this are huge.
Firstly, it means that your customers will respond to your latest promotions instantly (good or bad!). No longer can the negative feedback you get from individuals be handled quietly and out of sight of the public mainstream – it’s right there for everyone to read! Secondly, it means that your customers can initiate the communications process, not just you! Your customer might have had a bad experience and instead of complaining during the experience or later to their friends and never using your organisation again, they can complain to you directly and in the most public of ways. So, are you scared or inspired?
As with anything in life how you choose to react to circumstances determines how those circumstances will affect you. This new form of communicating should inspire you because there has never been a greater level of public accountability for an organisation than this. Imagine a client complaining about you to their 5000 followers on Twitter, then imagine a customer service recovery process that sees the whole process acted out in front of the client’s 5000 followers and the whole matter being resolved positively. You’ve turned around a frustrated client and their network of 5000 people who could have been influenced negatively without you even realising.
The whole reason Leftfield Interactive exists is because we believe people are the most inspired, relational creatures there are. We believe in helping them communicate better. We believe in always helping them to improve. The way we do this is through well thought out experiences that are clear, innovative and successful. We use digital channels and tools like social media, websites, e-mail, online advertising, TXT, and viral campaigns to achieve our client’s goals.
If you’d like to discuss how you could incorporate social media as a digital communications channel for your organisation then please get in touch.