Monday, April 16, 2012
Social media advertising and promotion has rapidly established itself as a critical component of many companies' marketing strategies. A recent ClickZ News survey of advertising agencies found that seven of eight respondents' clients' spending on social media had either doubled or increased significantly in January of 2012 relative to January 2011. Additionally, 50 percent of those surveyed indicated that the majority of their clients had purchased advertising on Facebook in the last year.
However, while social media is now a major component of most promotional strategies, customer support departments have yet to widely adopt it. That is why Interactive Intelligence Group's recent report, "A Realistic Look at Social Media and the Contact Center," recommends that organizations interested in implementing social media into their contact centers make use of their marketing departments, as well as their customer service staff.
With their higher degree of experience in the medium, advertising executives can play a key role in shepherding social media processes into the contact center. By leaving marketers in charge of the early stages (responding to customer requests and comments on social media platforms) and gradually transferring responsibility to support staff, companies can ensure they are ultimately able to provide a high-quality social media-based customer experience at every level.
