Social media has exploded over the last decade and many businesses still view all social media interaction to be the responsibility of the marketing department.

The reality is social media impacts on all departments in your business.  Don’t make the mistake of not being open and engaging with customers problems.  Social media gives you a great chance to apologise if you get it wrong and the opportunity to make amends.  Ultimately you have to be honest and likeable in all your interactions.  If you are truly authentic your customers will respect you and endorse your brand and its values.

Make sure your customer service team listens to and respond to requests and ask your customers to feedback across the channels they communicate on.  “Like-ability” is the key to an engaging social media strategy.  You can learn so much from your customers, your R&D team can gain brilliant  insight from carefully constructed surveys.  CEO’s can serve as online spokespeople providing key opinion formers with information.

TOP TIPS:  Do you know the top 10 reasons consumers like Fan pages on FACEBOOK.

1. To receive discounts and promos
2. To show support for brands to friends
3. To get a “freebie” (e.g., free samples, coupons)
4. To stay informed about company activities
5. For updates on future projects
6. For updates on upcoming sales
7. Just for fun
8. To get access to exclusive content
9. To learn more about the company
10. For education about company topics

Source: CoTweet & ExactTarget

Its all about the development of relationships!  Social media is a great window into your clients world, your sales teams can review LinkedIn and Facebook profiles to meet and engage with new prospects.  The key thing is to make sure that as many people as possible in your brand are fluent in social media and know the objective is to treat every customer with respect!

Its all about being inspirational!  Give your customers lots of reasons to want to like you and they will spread the word!

So find what your customers want from you and don’t forget to make sure your Likeable!