It’s easy for companies to get swept up in the frenzy to have a social media presence. They feel they must get on the social bandwagon to be perceived as relevant. What often gets lost in this attempt at relevance is the critical thinking behind why engaging with customers via social media is important – to customers and the business.
The why is simply that ‘customer centric’ organizations out-compete ‘company centric’ organizations because they build a customer base that is happy and loyal.
As the Altimeter Group’s Brian Solis says, “We can’t have meaningful discussions about becoming a social business if we don’t know why doing so is advantageous to customers and ultimately to the business itself.”
Businesses must earn relevance every day – with or without social media
Brian suggests, as do the fundamentals of customer-oriented marketing, that to understand why a business would profit from becoming social, it should ask why their customers would benefit from engaging with the company via social media. Before launching or revising a social media effort, companies should answer questions like these from their customer’s perspective:
- Why would I want to stay connected to this company over time?
- Why would I share this company’s content with my peers?
Using social media isn’t enough to make a business relevant. Relevance isn’t dictated by the technology but by how the technology is used. Social media can enhance relevance in the minds and lives of customers when used to listen to customer needs, create convenient access to the business, and deliver information of value to customers.
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