Customer Experience

By Nick Johnson - January 8th, 2014

Social media and customer services, personal information availability shifting and could 2014 be the year Pinterest becomes a major force in e-commerce?

Personal insight

One of the key drivers behind the corporate use of social media is to gain more personal information about existing and potential customers. However, a recent poll from EY of 2,000 adults about their use of the main social media networks reveals that most (92%) are concerned about the level of personal information they are revealing across these social spaces. Indeed, over a third of respondents now restrict the levels of personal information they reveal on the social media networks they currently use.

Says Steve Wilkinson, managing partner, UK & Ireland client service at EY: “The rise of digital natives – those that have grown up with an inherent understanding of technology – means that today’s customers understand the dangers of sharing information online and try to protect it by restricting the access private companies have to their personal data.

“What our survey shows is a shift in attitudes and practices towards how consumers treat their personal data, and the access they will allow to their data, both now and in future. Despite well-publicised government missteps towards data privacy, consumers still appear more willing to share personal data with public sector organisations. On the other hand, there is a growing trend to revoke the access that private companies have to such information. As a result, we are likely to see a change in which bodies have the greatest access to customer information in the next five-to-10 years.”

For brand owners developing high levels of trust with their customers is the key to maintaining the insight that is needed to ensure social media messages are relevant and shared. Social networks have come under the security spotlight a great deal over the last year. Corporations should look closely at their own security policies and how customer data is gathered and utilised. Trust is a difficult trait to develop in a commercial environment, but one that isn’t impossible to evolve with careful planning of social media marketing campaigns.

Social media customer service worsens

One of the main trends that that became abundantly clear throughout 2013 was the continued use of social media networks as customer service contact points. More consumers are turning to their favourite social media to contact brands with a customer services query. Twitter remained the most favoured network for these communications, as consumers perceive this network as offering them the most efficient channel.

However, research from Sprout Social reveals that the response from businesses to these social-based queries has worsened from 10.9 hours in the third quarter of 2012 to 11.3 hours a year later. Sprout Social CEO Justyn Howard says: “Businesses need to regroup and retool to shift from a largely marketing-driven focus in social channels to one that revolves around the customer.”

In addition, a new infographic makes for stark reading, as it highlights that it now takes 12 positive service experiences to make up for one negative experience. With that level of attrition, it is vital that customer services queries handled over all social media networks are efficient and effective.

As we move into 2014, brands need to overhaul their customer services response times. More consumers will use social media for these queries this year. Only those brands that can make timely and useful responses will gain advocacy that will be communicated far and wide across the social media networks.

Is Pinterest a social commerce game changer?   

There can be no doubt that that visual commerce came of age last year. The level of activity that Pinterest saw, and the high levels of actual conversion make this social media site the one to watch in 2014. Indeed, a new infographic presents the case for Pinterest becoming the platform that shifts how e-commerce is transacted.

Monetate states: “Social and search continue to be essential inbound marketing channels. And while Google’s generating a lot of discussion around its new social network, Google+, another website is actually driving more inbound traffic: Pinterest.

“With its U.S. traffic skyrocketing to more than 10 million visits, the virtual pinboard is now one of the top 10 social networking and forum websites. Our latest infographic introduces you to Pinterest and provides ideas on how you can use the social photo sharing website to promote products, build community, and drive website traffic and conversions.

“Oh, and Pinterest raised $37 million in funding last year and has an unconfirmed valuation of up to $200 million. So, if you haven’t paid much attention to it yet, you might want to start.”

73% of adults now use social media networks

Some 73% of online adults now use a social networking site of some kind according to the latest research from Pew. Facebook is the dominant social networking platform in the number of users, but a striking number of users are now diversifying onto other platforms. Some 42% of online adults now use multiple social networking sites. In addition, Instagram users are nearly as likely as Facebook users to check in to the site on a daily basis.

Until next time….

The Useful Social Media team.