The celebrated entrepreneur explores how the use of social media can define a company's future success.
Q: We've been trying to find a way to improve communication with our customers, but neither our website nor our Facebook page is producing results. What would you suggest?
A: This is a question keeping many company founders awake at night as they struggle to keep up with rapid changes in the digital world. The swift rise of new communication channels such as Facebook and Twitter have caused many executives to reassess how they stay in touch with their customers, employees and, increasingly, with the media itself.
People no longer want to be sold to; they want companies to help them find an informed way to buy the right product or service at the right price. They still watch ads, but often online rather than on TV, and they're much more likely to view ads that friends have recommended. When something goes wrong with a product, they want to be able to reach the company instantly and get a quick solution.
How companies adapt to this energetic and sometimes chaotic world will define their future success. The website, Facebook page, blog and Twitter feed are no longer add-ons to a business's communication budget: They should be central to its marketing strategy, and used in coordination with other marketing efforts.
As a first step in addressing your problem, make sure your site is set up not just to handle transactions, but also for communication -- and that when customers leave comments or send emails your team always follows up. Depending on the channels you choose, this might mean helping your customer service staff adapt to new methods of communicating. Once they have, you must continue to keep in touch with customers yourself.
Beyond customer service, you may need to consider that the old divisions between advertising, marketing and public relations have broken down, so it's time to review how your marketing team works. Virgin Atlantic recently created a Social Relations team to manage the combined media space and to make sure our sites and communications are current and interesting, maintaining the cheeky flair that characterizes the brand.
The rise of social media has presented exciting challenges and caused us to question our usual ways of doing business. When we launched a global ad for Virgin Atlantic on TV and in theaters -- full of humor, fun and with a touch of glamour -- it started to generate a big online following, as our fans promoted it to their friends. This extended the ad's reach far beyond our usual audiences.
To succeed, entrepreneurs and business leaders must look at this rapidly changing world through a different lens; by working with your online sites, services and teams, you can transform these challenges into opportunities.
So, is your company ready to face these changes quickly?
Do You realize and accept the importance of these new tools of marketing and sales?
