Social media has allowed for businesses to complete their customer service activities online, which can be both good and bad. In order to deliver excellent customer service on a daily basis, it’s important to monitor all of the conversations about your brand. Conversations about your products or services can now occur on a variety of channels. With customers possessing the ability to spread their message to a global audience, many brands are simply trying to catch up and kickstart their online reputation management activities.
Below are a few suggestions on how to use social-media channels to your advantage.
Facebook & LinkedIn
Using shares and Likes as a metric for your online marketing activities is an intelligent strategy. It’s important to track your social-media efforts and figure out which postings are working for your business. Facebook provides Page administrators with Page Insights data that tells you how many users are interacting with each particular post. LinkedIn offers a similar capability on its company pages.
Google Analytics
Meanwhile, Google Analytics gives an in-depth analysis of the impact of your social-media campaigns. When you see any of these sites as a top referrer for your business’s website, you know that these social-networking efforts are doing their work. Google Analytics can track visitors from all referrers, including social networks and search engines, referring sites and direct visits. It also displays email marketing, advertising, pay-per-click networks and digital collateral such as links within PDF documents.
Google+ Local
Google+ Local is a significant part of Google+. It focuses on businesses and their locations. These Google+ Local pages are similar to business pages on Facebook, but include several more features that will help businesses to connect with consumers on a deeper level. On Google+, a business experiences even greater online visibility by posting a link to their website and providing information about products and services. Encourage feedback and engage in conversations that are benefit for you and your customers. Because you’re posting fresh and relevant content, you will receive higher rankings in Google search results. The Google+ Local page also includes integration capabilities with Google maps so users can find contact information such as address, phone number and directions.
In closing, don't forget your business's website. It’s important that your website reflects your capabilities and convinces readers to place their trust in you. In most cases, your current and prospective customers will visit your website first. You know what they say about first impressions. Make sure that they know what you can offer them and how it stands apart from the rest.
It’s an intelligent tactic to monitor conversations focused on your industry competitors. In this action, you’ll learn what their strengths and weakness are – which gives you the opportunity to capitalize on their shortcomings. You can use all your newfound information to improve the experience of your own customers and shore up your online reputation.