As social media is quickly gathering a lot of hype and interest among the business community, it will be interesting to delve deeper into the types of challenges that it can bring along. An interaction with Andrew Kokes, Global Product Management, reveals the realties that enterprises should be aware of before they enter the world of social media.     

GS: The benefits of social media are highly talked about, but will it be a challenge for enterprises to handle so much information?
AK: Social media is dramatically altering the customer service landscape. With easy access to real-time information, a new generation of ‘always-on' consumers is more empowered and demanding than ever. This trend is on the rise as social media proliferates, both online and on mobile, across all age groups and demographics. The true challenge will be to build trust and brand loyalty in this rapidly changing environment, and Sitel believes that companies must develop a social media customer service strategy that is responsive, proactive and engaging in order to address customers' needs and make sense of the real-time, unstructured information.

Findings from independent research firm TNS shed further light on the challenges awaiting companies in the social mediasphere. Their Social Media Customer Service Report surveyed more than 1,000 consumers and found that social media is rapidly changing the customer service industry. Led by consumers under 25, this shift sees more and more consumers turning to social media sites - from Facebook and Twitter to blogs and forums - to solve problems, search for information and voice complaints.

Consumers often search for solutions online before calling customer service. While this helps to greatly reduce call center volume, and costs, companies with limited or poor online help forums will fall behind. When asked what companies could do to improve the customer service experience, 35 percent of all survey respondents said “post video demonstrations, tutorials and instructions.” By creating digital content that solves customers' common problems and making it widely available online, businesses can significantly reduce customer frustration and be seen as a user-friendly brand while lowering the costs associated with live agent support.

GS: How can companies make sense of social media – especially in an economic scenario that is grim and cost pressures are high?
AK: Sitel is finding a direct correlation with social media customer engagement and a company’s financial performance—the higher a company’s Web presence and engagement, the greater growth potential in revenue and gross margin. That’s why Sitel has created the award-winning Sitel Cloud Monitor, a customer-care centric approach that empowers organizations to tune into the customer conversation, make sense of the unstructured communication and build business objectives to measure and manage ongoing web engagement operations. As the Web continues to become a main customer support channel, Sitel is helping the Company’s clients operationalize social media so companies can start listening online, determine next steps to address customer or prospective customer needs across social, web and contact center experiences.

GS: How can companies filter out information? What conversations should you take seriously?
AK: The rule of thumb for participation should be relevance.  Do you have something meaningful to say to your customer?  Can you add value to their experience online, with your product or in his day to day life?  Sitel, a leading social media customer care provider, offers the following best practices to target the most critical conversations around a company’s brand and products:

Listen: Monitoring social media will give you a feel for what your customers are saying about you and where you may have issues with the product or customer service. Determine how frequently customers are raising issues or trying to communicate with your company so you can assess how important the channel is for your brand.
Engage: Social media is about participation. For businesses, it's also about giving customers a direct route to your company. Set rules of engagement and establish a tone of voice that aligns with your specific business objectives whilst extending your brand's personality.
Analyze: You could be seeing thousands of comments every day so you need to establish a process to track these communications, determine the appropriate response and prioritize.
Adapt: Social media is changing every day, from the launch of Google+ to the increased adoption of mobile social apps, so there is a need to be flexible and scalable. Review your program frequently to keep pace with your customers.

As an example, some clients choose to engage customers with negative experiences and try to improve the customer’s perceptions by resolving issues, while others prefer to only engage positive messages and reinforce those good experiences online. In some cases, when engaging customers voicing challenges, Sitel has experienced as many as 6 out of 10 customers coming back and posting a positive message of appreciation publicly about our client’s brand.

GS: How much reliance should companies put on social media?
AK: The phone and direct conversation are still critical, but companies can’t wait around for the “phone to ring” with customer complaints. Customer expectations have evolved, and no customer care channel is effective in isolation and a social media strategy should be viewed as part of the whole. As a communications hub, a contact center is well-placed to advise and deliver customer care on social media that is specific to a company’s audience and business objectives and in line with the entire customer service strategy. The key to effective customer service is to understand the demographics of your audience and be prepared with the right level of support at every potential touch-point.