Q: I am working on a B2B communication Strategy and need to know IF and HOW social media is used when communicating with customers?

via LinkedIn Answers | LinkedIn

A: Social media is used for communicating with customers. There are at least two emerging trends in this area.

The first trend is to use social media to connect and engage with prospects and customers. The goal is to listen to their needs and leverage social media to build trust, credibility and rapport. This is also an opportunity to sell them products, but approach pitching your product or service with caution. Frequent selling can come across as too aggressive and may actually turn customers away.

The second trend is to use social media to monitor and respond to customer service issues. For example, you might find that customers are unhappy with a product feature. You can then ask questions for clarity and share your solution. In the very least, social media gives you a new channel to learn about issues much more quickly and cost-effectively than other approaches. Of course, this depends on your customer participation in the social network.

Hope this helps,
Steinar

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