Gartner predicts that refusing to communicate by social media will be as harmful to companies as ignoring phone calls or emails is today.<\/p>\n
The IT research and advisory company\u00a0says that as\u00a0familiarity with social media grows, customers’ expectations about how organisations will use these channels are evolving,<\/p>\n
By 2014, organisations that refuse to communicate with customers by social media will face the same level of wrath from customers as those that ignore today’s basic expectation that they will respond to emails and phone calls, Gartner says.<\/p>\n
For organisations that use social media to promote their products, responding to inquiries via social media channels will be the new minimum level of response expected.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe dissatisfaction stemming from failure to respond via social channels can lead to up to a 15 per cent increase in churn rate for existing customers,\u201d said Carol Rozwell, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner. \u201cIt\u2019s crucial that organisations implement approaches to handling social media now. The effort involved in addressing social media commentary is not good cause to ignore relevant comments or solvable issues.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, not all comments on the social web are aimed directly at organisations, Gartner argues. It recommends that organisations develop a framework to deal with social media commentary on relevant topics.<\/p>\n
It opines that the framework must complement how an organisation deals with a direct enquiry received through social channels and should address whether a response is warranted, who should respond if it is, and what action is necessary following any response.<\/p>\n
To respond or not?<\/strong><\/p>\n Gartner advises that social media leaders must develop a process for deciding whether to respond to public or client-prompted social engagements. A person or team needs to have the power to decide whether a comment is relevant and whether the issue presented is solvable, or whether there are positive dimensions to what is being said that should be recorded.<\/p>\n It\u2019s also important to accept that it\u2019s impracticable and counterproductive to respond to everything. For example, if a comment is clearly inflammatory and unsolvable, it is usually best not to respond at all. “However, if a person is an existing customer logging a harsh but legitimate complaint, the issue must be addressed publicly, promptly and within the same media it was made.”<\/p>\n \u201cGenerally the best practice is to acknowledge the issue on social media, but to move attempts to resolve the issue offline,\u201d said Rozwell.<\/p>\n Who should respond?<\/strong><\/p>\n Gartner believes that it\u2019s not enough simply to decide which people responds to what \u2014 the act of responding must be made part of their day job or it will be overlooked. It can be challenging to promote this shift in mindset, and it could require changes to performance metrics and job roles.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve responded, now what?<\/strong><\/p>\n The advisory firm says that many organisations make the mistake of treating engagements as ad hoc. While over half of organisations monitor social media, only 23% collect and analyse data. This means that most organisations do not keep records of interactions occurring on social media and do not keep social profiles for people they have engaged with.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s important not only to keep records of individual conversations, but constantly to analyse the interactions to see what insights can be gleaned from them,\u201d said Rozwell.<\/p>\n To ensure they are not discarding the valuable information being generated through social media, organisations must create processes for perpetuating customer engagements and for sharing social knowledge throughout the organisation.<\/p>\n \u201cWe urge organisations to do three things. Firstly, participate \u2014 it\u2019s important that organisations don\u2019t let a fear of someone saying something bad about them stop them from participating in social media,\u201d said Rozwell.<\/p>\n \u201cSecondly, don\u2019t assume all comments require the same level of attention \u2014 develop an appropriate response for the different types of interaction your business faces. Thirdly, plan for an increase in social commentary and adapt communications practices to cope \u2014 this will require changes to job descriptions, performance metrics and business processes.\u201d<\/p>\n Carol Rozwell is vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner.<\/p>\n Related articles<\/strong><\/p>\n