Are you having an old static company page, did you hire expensive web designers to create a publish system that you just can’t figure out? If you are considering an offer from a web design company ask about social media strategies. If they are just giving you fancy design and no interaction with your customer, stand up and leave. Go for a blog, a twitter account, live chat and a facebook profile and find someone who knows what those things are.
Why you ask?
I have been working as a web developer more or less professional for 12 years. I have been creating everything from static one page HTML sites to full blown publish/shop solutions. My ultimate goal was to make more values for my customer. But the interaction of today’s social media is finally giving a solution to what you want to achieve in the first place, interaction with your customers. And guess what, your customers might have a great idea or two when it gets to your products and services. All you need to do is active listening and informing.
M(w)ake up
My wife have been participating in online make up forums with 100.000 users that order make up all around the world. They swap stuff, they interact with the company, and the company gives names to new types of eye shadow based on direct user feedback. They inform about upcoming events and product launches, and I am sitting in my living room regretting not picking up on how to make cosmetics when I was young. What an amazing business idea. My wife has gotten friends all around the world swapping cosmetics and advices and staying loyal to one company. Well almost, this company made one error of judgment, they did not listen to the customer and walked out on a promise, resulting in thousands of customers moving to the competition.
Online support Center
I work at a broadband company, our site is new and nice, but static, showing products and prices. New social media has still not quite reached our marketing department. I would love it if we made a blog, a customer forum, a twitter account, a facebook profile and … alright we got an online chat. What if we had some technical difficulties, we could inform in an instance. What if we told our customers that five people are sick today, wish them well, but please understand that the phone lines might queue up.
What if we launched a new product right into an active community of thousands of customers? What if a customer had some great ideas that we could adapt? The customers could teach us what they want, and we could teach the customers about how we operate. And I bet that we could save us a bunch of money that went to a marketing company financing their fancy coffee habits. And just let us listen…
One man is doing it right.
In Norway, one man in particular has gotten the idea of social media. Steinar J Olsen founder and CEO at Stormberg is using his blog, communicating with not only his customers, but also state leading politicians and journalists. His twitter account has 4744 followers, and his blog is quoted in national media all the time. The company facebook profile has 9166 friends. Customers are providing feedback, example a print error in a calendar, with the marketing director giving an instant feedback. Customers are asking about the quality of boots, resulting in recommendations from other customers. In comparison I tried to locate one of the competitors facebook profile and found a profile with 133 friends.. I wonder who is getting the most impact in this advertising channel?
Replace your company website with a blog; do not hide behind your boring web site. NOW!
