Surprisingly, many businesses still do not use social media to engage customers. In today’s high-paced world, news travels in seconds and doesn’t stop just because the business day has ended. Customers expect for the brands they trade with to have a presence on social networks. Time and time again, we’ve seen consumers create brand pages in social channels for companies who don’t have one so they could shout out from the top of the hills about their experiences.

The days of printed and online surveys are over. Why bother spending the money it takes to solicit customers to talk about their experiences with your brand? They’re already willing to give up that information in social channels – for FREE. You know you’ve heard it a thousand times… there’s a conversation taking place and you have to decide whether to be a part of it.

Social media offers brands and consumers the opportunity to connect in a more personal way – leading to a social relationship that offers brand transparency and customer loyalty. Customers are telling brands what they want from them through social media. Wouldn’t it be great to tap into these relationships and be able to offer your customers what they really want?

There are many benefits besides learning exactly what your customers want. Engaging with them in social channels helps to create word of mouth marketing. What better recommendation can you get than from a friend who has already traded with your company? It’s important to grow your business. Isn’t that what we’re all trying to do?

Social channels like Twitter and Facebook provide excellent opportunities to address customer service issues. If there’s a problem, you’ll be the first to know if you’re active on these channels. We found that monitoring these channels during normal business hours can reduce call volumes in call centers and provide a better experience for the customer. It’s a great feeling to see a customer service issue resolved where the entire world can see how much you care about your customers.

Finally, social media offers businesses the opportunity to share their story about how they started, what’s important to them and where they are headed. We all want to know who we’re doing business with. It helps us to feel more comfortable and increases the chance of repeat business.

Social media doesn’t have to be something scary. If you feel overwhelmed getting started or managing your existing channels, we can help. Visit us at http://smoutsource.com.