Welcome to writing/communications Wednesday. Today’s post is on the theme of Safety in social media networks as we are looking at this topic this week in my “Communications 506 – Using/Managing Communications networks” course.
“Safety is the motivation to derive support from one’s social environment” (Kadushin, 2012, p. 72).
Social media users like to feel safe in their online environments and this involves a level of trust in those who are in their networks. Many businesses are using social media for marketing and I think building trust with audiences is an important key to success.
Erik Qualman writes that 93% of marketers use social media for business (source).
50% of Twitter users are more likely to purchase from brands they follow (source) and 34% if marketers say that they have generated leads using Twitter, yet 56% of customer tweets to companies are being ignored (source).
The question is: how can businesses use social media for the greatest consumer impact?
Semina Hossain shared an article about Social Media vs. Social Networking, which outlines how businesses can use social media for marketing and for networking or building trust with their customers/clients. For example, social media marketing involves: distributing communications to a wide audience and it’s difficult to measure true reach and impact. Social networking involves engaging in two-way communication directly with customers/clients and gaining further insight into the business’ social media impact.
Kadushin (2012) asks
“What is the optimal balance between safety and effectiveness for different structures and for different situations” (p. 69).
I think the key to social media for businesses is to find the optimal balance between social media (effectiveness) and social networking (safety/trust).
Social Media – Effectivity
Jason Buzzell and I briefly talked (tweeted) about the issue with businesses hiring so-called “social media experts” who essentially only know how to use all social media platforms. I think what businesses should be looking for are experienced social networkers. For example, Wet Seal, a young women’s clothing retailer hired a 16-year old with a large personal following to manage their SnapChat account for a few days (source). This resulted in an increase in 9,000 followers for Wet Seal because the Meghan’s followers trusted her and so through her they effectively started following Wet Seal. This may not be an appropriate way for every business to build a following, but it is one example of how a business can make a connection with an important influencer on a social media network and use this powerful “node” to connect the business to an interested consumer base.
Social Networking – Building Trust
In addition to making connections, businesses should make an effort to provide a certain level of customer service through social media. This also creates trust because consumers place a lot of weight on friend referrals when purchasing goods or services and a positive social media experience may increase the likelihood of customers recommending the brand to their networks. This proves true for me because I’ve contacted businesses through Facebook messages and received a response in about 24 hours, which I really appreciated. They provided me with the information I needed so I could get their products, left me with a positive impression.
Social Networking & My Personal Brand
I’ve been blogging and tweeting for a number of years and I found that my personal brand and network was strengthened the most by making connections with people. By commenting on their blogs, chatting with them on Twitter, or tweeting their posts, I saw my Twitter followers move from 30 to 800 and my blog readers increased by a similar percentage.
The act of “selling” often makes social media users cringe, especially if it’s not done correctly. But if a brand, whether personal or a business, gains the trust of their followers through genuine interaction (e.g. chatting, retweeting, customer service replies), then the social network will grow and strengthen.
Now that I’m taking COMM506, I’m trying out the social media avenue of providing useful links for information about social media and branding rather than engaging in mostly Twitter conversations. A lot of influencers on Twitter share links and I’m interested to see how this impacts my network throughout the next few months. I’ve noticed that by doing this, I’ve become more informed of what’s happening in social media for businesses and it also makes me more confident in gaining that knowledge.
Useful links for social networking for businesses
I came across several recent articles that provide methods for building consumer trust and tips for social networking for businesses:
- 5 Steps to Build Trust In Your Brand with Social Media
- Social Business Networking: Build Trust, Credibility, Relationships
- Three Ways Social Networking Leads to Better Business
- Social Media for Customer Service
- Social Media’s Impact on Customer Service
- Brands Simply Aren’t Replying on Twitter
- How to Respond to Customers Who Complain on Social Media