Feb 14 in Social Media
Written by: Heather Rast
Over on the Social Media Explorer blog I recently wrote about the role of social media in achieving customer satisfaction. Part technical tool review, part examination of socially-enabled communications, the post took a look at Groubal ( the “complaint as a petition” platform) but begged a deeper look at brand image, customer relationship-building and new business imperatives in our digital marketing era.
Creating and maintaining customer satisfaction
While preparing that post, I had the great fortune to interview PR pro Arik Hanson and market research expert Frank Martin. Both gentlemen are business owners and recognized within their respective industries. I looked to these guys to add some dimension to this new reality of customers using online channels and social tools to share personal stories and experiences with others about brands. We talked about:
Public relations -
What risks do brands now face in this hyper-connected, always-on, volatile environment? How can a brand lessen the impact caused
by negative sentiment expressed online? What options do brands have for getting in front of potentially contentious topics in order to participate if not steer the course of current discussion? How can we save a carefully built brand image from getting tarnished?
Market research -
What means does a brand have for better understanding consumer perception? How might those learnings be used to gain insight into operational inefficiencies, ambiguous communication or under performing products? How does online reputation monitoring and sentiment analysis fit with other, more traditional research methods?
I worked my thoughts up into a 9-page opinion paper titled: The Rant Heard ‘Round the World: Can We Find Satisfaction on the Internet? You can also read it below.
In writing the paper, I learned a little about what it must feel like to write and publish a full-on book. I could have added more depth to the topic areas or branch out into important related tangents, but I tried to stay focused on the central idea of customer satisfaction – creating it, maintaining it, and maturing a business along with it. Inside the paper there are lots of links to great material written by others, so be sure to check those out too.
As always, your thoughts and opinions are encouraged. What did I miss? Where am I right? Again my thanks go out to the very patient and generous Arik and Frank. Any errors are my own.
No related posts.
2 Comments for: Take your gripe and tweet it.
[...] the surface has healed. You’ll pay for it (revenue loss) and you’ll hear about it (customer satisfaction, meet your new friend social media). A brand’s practical decision to change policy or the [...]
[...] their activities, is evolving in response to and along side of a rush of enabling technology and shifting consumer expectations. We can’t mistake what’s happening as a passing fad or fancy, or chalk it up to [...]