Do you use social media to improve your customer service?

Many brands haven't woken up the fact that social media sites are perfect for customer service.

A colleague of mine recently moved into new house and had problems getting her Internet connection up and running.  After a month of copious calls with India and other parts of the universe she had practically given up on her dreams of being a silver surfer.

Luckily for her she is a prolific Tweeter. After one fruitless conversation with Dave from Deli and at the end of her tether she ranted on Twitter about her disappointment with her provider.

To cut a short story shorter….it was fixed within 12 hours.

You would think that most companies are listening and monitoring their brand reputation within social networks but recent figures gathered by Econsultancy found that just 11 per cent of firms use social media sites as a way of offering customer service.

Whether responding to negative posts or thanking a happy customer for their comments

Spin that on its head and you'll find that 81 per cent of businesses with a Facebook page use it for marketing purposes.

However, you can't use social media sites to promote sales if your customer service is shoddy as visitors to your brand page could see negative comments that have not been dealt with - lowering your reputation.

Why isn't social media being used for customer service?

Luke Brynley-Jones, founder of Our Social Times, looked into this problem and detailed the results on the Econsultancy blog.

He found that the main obstacle in firms using social media sites as a platform for customer service is fear!

It seems the majority of you are afraid that by responding to negative comments you'll open a can of worms and a crisis will ensue.

However, this is generally not the case as potential and existing customers would prefer seeing how you respond to criticism and how you rectify the problem.

If you do this well, then your brand reputation will improve and your customers may start recommending you to other B2B buyers.

What's more, recent research from Ogilvy PR found that 60 per cent of B2B buyers are influenced by what their peers have to say about a brand on social media sites, reported the Financial Times.

So why not start responding to tweets that mention your firm on Twitter, whether it's good or bad, and to any comments posted on your Facebook page?

Key marketing trends for 2012 (part two)

Part two of our guide to key B2B marketing trends that will be seen this year.

Now is the time that B2B marketers like you will be considering if and how they want to change their advertising strategies in 2012 in order to win new business.

Some key marketing trends for 2012 have been discussed and now it is time for part two of our guide on what will be lucrative for B2B firms this year.

Integrating email marketing with social media

While many of you may feel that email marketing is a dying advertising medium due to the popularity of social media, it can still be lucrative for you in 2012.

According to Elisabeth Sosnow, who was writing for Business to Community, this is the year for B2B firms to run integrated marketing services that incorporate emails and social marketing campaigns.

She states that 47 per cent of companies intend to increase their investment in email marketing to drive growth in social media channels in 2012.

Beware though as you need to do more than just adding a social share button to your email marketing messages in order to do justice to both platforms.

Julia Peavy, director of Response Consulting at Return Path, suggested adding social media calls-to-action in email marketing messages.

She wrote on the firm's blog: "Test out different wording to encourage sharing or engagement with your social media site.

"While including simple 'follow us' and 'like us' text is better than no guidance, test the social media calls to action to see if this encourages more clicks."

You can also include the option to add comments to a social media page in your email marketing messages to help encourage engagement with your brand.

Content marketing

Producing high-quality content is a proven marketing tool for B2B marketers and the type of material required to win new business is set to develop even further in 2012.

White papers will always be a great way for you to reveal the latest developments in your industry to prove you're an expert in the field but B2B buyers will want to read more engaging content too this year.

This can include corporate blogs, written by your chairman or an industry expert, webinars that B2B buyers can watch online, and even e-books, as e-readers are gaining popularity across the globe.

Social media

Social media was a popular marketing method in 2011, with the launch of new social network Google+, and new advertising tools on both Facebook and Twitter.

These sites are sure to have more opportunities for you to build lead generation in the pipeline, such as Facebook which will be introducing private messages between brands and customers.

As a result, firms will be able to deal with customer service issues directly and in private, rather than on their Facebook page.

What methods will you be employing this year? Take our Poll opposite and find out what your peers think.