The great (and sometimes, maybe, “troublesome”) thing about social media is that the virtual customer engagement has varied uses. Engagement helps to grow your community of followers, brings a sense of loyalty, and helps in your marketing strategy. The other great aspect of this is that it also can work as a customer service focus point, allowing you to help your community troubleshoot any issues they have. If successful, this ultimately helps establish a more secure sense of loyalty as well as increasing your brand’s reputation. Check out a great example of customer service on twitter by clicking here.

Today’s article from Social Media today discusses building a customer relationship in the social media world, with some tips and strategies to follow. The most important part of this could very well be knowing your audience and making sure you are in the right community. If you’re not focused on the social networks where your customers and desired demographic spend their time, you’re wasting your time. Make sure you know ahead of time whether or not you want to be in a specific social media spot because a stagnant account can often have a negative impact on your brand’s image even if there are few customers using the space.

By knowing who your customer are and where they congregate in social media, it is vitally important to know how they like to interact. Twitter can sometimes turn into a hostile place if your customer service complaints are either ignored or not handled correctly. If you are active in positive engagement you can often stem the tide of a wave of negativity which could see your issues begin to “trend” across the platform.

The article has some good tips and ideas about planning ahead and some major pitfalls to avoid.
Click here to read on.