subject: Social media is changing how marketing teams and sales teams interact [print this page] Social media is changing how marketing teams and sales teams interact
As the founder ofSocialLabs.co.uk(a UKfocussedsocial media tools for SME's) I have spoken to many businesses, especially SME's sized organisations. The usage and experience levels of SME's iswildlyvariable, if you speak to most blue-chip brands, they will have well planned (in most cases) and thought out social media activities which work in close relationship to their other marketing activities. On the other hand,SME's social media activities vary fromtheexceptional through to the non existent.
In the past year I have seen some companies perform supremely on social media, really harnessing and embracing the conversational aspects and as a result, developing the sort of brand loyalty that would have cost a ton of money by doing it the traditional way. I will provide some case studies at a later stage.
I have also seen some real howlers where the SME has simply gone in like a hard-core street hawker and harassed anyone who has vaguelyhintedthey may have an interest in the sorts of products they sell.
I believe that over time, this sort of behaviour will diminish as users become more savvy and learn to ignore such activity - thus making the returns not worth the effort on the part of the SME.
However there is one potential change we may start to see over time, as the general public at large become more experienced with businesses tactics and also as more businesses use social media as a form of communication with potential customers.Consider this: SME "A" sells solid oak furniture and uses social media (responsibly) to communicate with a "target" audience. As such, the business sees a conversation going on which clearly shows someone wanting advice on where to get the best deal on a particular type of furniture. So SME "A" makes contact and a happy dialogue takes place with the person being enticed withsomethingoutside of the normal retail scenario - what thatisvaries but often we are seeing special discounts for social media leads.
Now, roll time forwards a few months (or maybe it is happening now) and the general public at large have got wise to the fact that all they need to do is have a public conversation that they want to buy something and then wait for the offers to start coming their way.
I do not envisage this happening in a great deal of sectors but for certain areas, there is no question in my mind that the consumer will start to use social media to get retailers to come to them and offer the best deal, in effect "bid" for their business.
Social Labs will be conducting a number of tests based on selected industry sectors to see what is happening between consumersandretailers overthenextfew months and will be posting the most enlightening findings on the site but I will also be postingexcerptshere - itshouldmake interesting reading.
