More companies are using mobile for customer engagement
73% of companies are planning an investment in mobile channels in 2011, with almost half planning to move into mobile commerce.
Econsultancy's Customer Engagement Report, which we produced in association with cScape, has some interesting findings on companies' use of mobile.
It seems that, as well as losing their fear of social media, more firms are coming round to the value of mobile.
Firms are overcoming their fear of social media: report
More and more firms are using social media to improve their relationships with customers, with adoption of social networks for customer support up by 15% (to 51%) since last year.
Findings from Econsultancy's 2011 Customer Engagement Report, produced in association with cScape, suggest that, with greater adoption of social channels for customer service and product development, companies are losing their fear of social media.
Companies are also increasingly using social technology internally to improve communication and business performance, with a third of companies (32%) using internal social networking for employee communication.
25 ways of encouraging and rewarding customer engagement
Customer engagement is worth going after in a big way, according to
Econsultancy’s research. Engaged customers tend to stick around for
longer, buy more often and refer your brand to their friends. What’s not
to like?
As such a focus on engagement is both smart and necessary. We no longer
live in a broadcast world, but in a world where listening, reacting and
providing great service are essential if you really care about your
customers.
In my view the key to a winning customer engagement strategy is to make it like a game, where points make prizes. The more the customer plays, the more the customer can win. And customers / users should be made aware of this. But what are the prizes?
Social Media: who can show us the real value?
Imagine logging into your email every Monday morning to find a report clearly outlining the value derived from all the time, effort and resource you’ve expended on the social web. That would be nice wouldn’t it? Seeing what impact of all that faffing about in Facebook; Twitter twaddling and blog blabbing has done for your brand would be invaluable.
But what would you want to see (at a high level) in such a, currently fictitious, report? And who is best placed to provide it to you?
Such a report would certainly save a lot of time. The process of collecting and correlating data from several sources; then trying to make sense of it all so that it can be used to plan an effective brand engagement strategy is time consuming to say the least. For what it is worth, this is what I’d like to see.
Q&A: Sienne Veit on Marks & Spencer's social media strategy
Marks & Spencer's online strategy has gone through a variety of changes in recent months. As well as revamping their main website, the British retail giant has embraced social media by incorporating ratings and reviews into their website, and using Facebook and Twitter to join the conversation and better engage with customers.
It is encouraging to see a major brand like M&S experimenting with new online channels. By incorporating social media into their strategy, Marks & Spencer has enhanced its ability to respond to customers. Additionally, the brand is better placed to manage their online reputation more effectively.
At a recent iCrossing social media briefing, I asked Business Development Manager, Sienne Veit about the changes that Marks & Spencer has implemented and the impact of social media on the brand.
Five ways to drive interest in your tweeting
Advice for using Twitter to build an army of engaged followers is prevalent. Less is suggested for the ways to drive awareness of your Twitter presence using other communication channels.
If you apply the basic logic of acquisition and retention, you can use Twitter innovatively to engage your current followers but if you do nothing to tell others, how do you grow this channel?
This blog looks at six practical steps to pushing your Twitter presence. It's not rocket science but good ideas shouldn’t be complicated...
Changing consumers, challenging times
As consumers, we are all extraordinarily powerful these days. The wonderful web offers us the chance to hunt out the very best bargains, to research our purchases thoroughly and to read up on what other consumers have to say about products.
It's an excellent time to be a shopper and service user, but for retailers and service providers this presents many new challenges. Some businesses have embraced the way the web has transformed their customer base but others have been slow in catching up.
Screw it. Let's read the paper
A friend of mine was recently hired as the ad director for a mid-market newspaper, owned by the Tribune Company. After he was there about a month I asked him, "so how do you plan on selling ads for a dying media?"
"For starters," he said, "I do something absolutely no one in that office does. Every morning I read the newspaper. Cover-to-cover."
Customer engagement index plunges 15%
Customers are not happy. And unless you are an ultra-high end brand, they're checking out of their attachment with you...and telling each about it via social media channels.
Those are some of the results of the PeopleMetrics second annual Customer Engagement Report. It shows that when it comes to value and emotional connection, one man's search result is another man's luxury suite. According to the survey, consumers connect emotionally to brands that provide value, and that emotional connection has dropped 15% over 2007.
Forrester redefines rules of customer engagement
Customer engagement has been re-introduced into the internet marketing discussion, this time via an excellent report from Forrester Research.
Exactly what "engagement" means has been a murky proposition since it was introduced into the internet marketing lexicon in 2005. But Forrester has put forth a clear and concise take on it. It says: "customer engagement is the level of involvement, interaction, intimacy, and influence that an individual has with a brand over time."
