An L.A. Times article on Charles Nelson, president of Sprinkles Cupcakes, inspired this blog. Charles and his wife run a viable, if not successful cupcake business in Beverly Hills. The business has been around for 5 years with an advertising budget of $0.00. That's right kids . . . the cupcakes aren't free, but Charles' ability to connect with his customers is. Now, I want to write about connecting with the customer, not marketing. I'm here to convince you of the need to develop a service community channel – and that it's not that hard!
First, let's put all doubts aside. Why should you have a community channel to serve your customers? One reason: a significant portion may expect it. According to 2009 Cone research, 78% of new media users interact with companies or brands and of those, 89% believe a company should present AND also interact with its consumers via social media. And new media has become one of the most popular media channels, see my previous blog.
And it can be easy. Charles leverages Facebook to create his Sprinkles community channel, on which he is able to:
- Manage more than 70,000 'customers', people who declare themselves as fans of Sprinkles'
- Collect feedback from customer base on new flavors (inventory) or potential new locations (distribution)
- Announce daily promotions, a secret word such as "ganache," to drive customers stores for free cupcakes
- Take advantage of free 'buzz' marketing –fans automatically communicate interest and support to their Facebook friends through comment boards
As an editorial assumption, I'll add a key tenet of the community support channel value. If a negative comment were posted in the community space, Charles can address in proactively as opposed to being powerless in dealing with the ramifications. Imagine the horrors of, "I found a fingernail in my cupcake," and the amazing creativity that could create a positive windfall, like, "I was wondering where that went. . . but seriously, Sprinkles considers quality to be the highest requirement in product and service. All incidents of this nature, like mice in beer bottles, will receive appropriate, timely customer care."
Being powerless is a real problem, because there will be talk about your products and services online. Mikkel Svane, CEO of Zendesk, a web-based help desk services company, Suggests that if complaints are happening on media like Facebook and Twitter, "Take advantage of these tools and use them to keep a positive conversation going. Having a dedicated staff person that interacts with customers to answer their urgent questions on Twitter shows how responsive and committed a company is to its customers."
Now, you don't want to just jump in and create a Facebook company page during your lunch break. You should determine what you want to do with your customers online – start by knowing what they are looking by going online and listen to what they are saying about you. Then, with an objective in mind, consider your company's culture, products and services, and customers to determine the right tools to use for creating a community channel through social media space. Facebook may not be an appropriate starter.
Businesses need to go where their customers are. Facebook seems optimal for Sprinkles Cupcakes. That may not be the case for a more professional, B2B company. Traditionally transactional, information providing sites, Yelp (find the best Chicago pizza based on crowd opinion), Citysearch and other Yellow Pages type sites are incorporating social media elements that allow customers to rate and comment on service providers. This is a great way for companies to take baby steps in addressing their customer community through social media sites.
The initial conversations of "where and how to start" are the most exciting to engage in. Have you been asking these questions for yourself?
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