The Lifestream of Jon Moss

Social media as customer service

September 30 2008, 6:24pm

Some stats from a recent survey conducted about Americans who use social media sites and their interaction with business:

60% interact with companies using social media

93% say a company should have a presence in social media

85% say a company should not only be present but also interact with its customers via social media

56% say they feel a stronger connection with and better served by companies when they can interact with them in a social media environment

43% say companies should use social networks to solve customers' problems

41% say companies should use social media to solicit feedback about products and services

(Source: 2008 Cone Business in Social Media Study, from an online survey conducted Sept. 11-12, 2008 by Opinion Research Corporation among 1,092 adults comprising 525 men and 567 women 18 years of age and older. Margin of error +/- 3%.)

Social media is the new customer service. When social media-driven customer service is combined with the work of citizen marketers, it becomes a force for more credible problem-solving (and less expensive customer service costs). With its inherent market research opportunities, social media has crossed over to the category of obvious strategy.