Is your business tweet, like, and share ready? Are your employees tweet, like and share trained? It’s our way of life; through social media, we know what 1,150 or so of our closest “friends” are doing, what they like, what they think, what they eat and where they vacation. Oh, and we also know whether or not they like what we like, like what we do and if they endorse our skills. Everything is...#realtime.
Being so connected (and also so exposed) has many facets, including:
You remain linked to people with whom you might have otherwise lost touch
By “following”, you are able to derive daily inspiration from people you admire; whether it’s from people you know personally or recognize due to their fame, such as athletes to Hollywood personalities, company CEOs, the President of the US or even the Pope
You learn what’s happening in the world; if it’s happening, you can count on it happening on twitter, Facebook and Instagram
You can easily and quickly express your thoughts and so can everyone elseYour brand is shaped and forever under review
From a business perspective, the experiences people have with your organization, your customer service, and your actual product or service can be tweeted, liked, and shared; hopefully all in a positive light. The unfortunate reality is that whatever is being communicated has already happened. Are you hoping for the best or are you actively preparing your company and your employees to create positive customer experiences that you hope everyone will tweet, like and share?
Start by instituting these two proactive and predictive practices:
Net Promoter Score (NPS). It is one of the most powerful and accurate predictors of future growth. The NPS is a one question survey that you ask your clients to gage their level of loyalty. The question asks their likelihood to recommend your company to a friend or a colleague. If you take the following actions, you will be able to create customer experiences that are meaningful, identify areas where your brand is and is not living up to your expectations, and gain valuable and actionable insights to make the necessary adjustments:
Perform the Net Promoter Score survey regularly and consistently
Prevent bias by utilizing a third party and also ensuring response rates are appropriate
Scrutinize the results, by customer segment, by user/associate type and by business line
Execute upon a closed-loop process for follow up and for communicating internally and externally
Learning and Development. Everyone in your organization must understand your mission, vision and the culture you are trying to build. Associate engagement is a great predictor of customer loyalty. Associate engagement is positively impacted through learning and development. Have you invested in their training and development so that every associate can deliver the customer experience you hope hits social media? Here’s what you need to do:
Survey your associates for engagement, following the same rules as listed above in surveying your clients
Ensure every associate understands how their role is connected to your mission
Communicate specifically what they are expected to do and how they will be measured
Provide access to the training and coaching which gives them the ability to achieve
Celebrate and reward “great” customer-focused behaviors
Butler Street can help you implement and operationalize upon these predictive steps. We will provide you with actionable insights so you are not holding your breath, but rather delighted when your customers and associates see this and prepare to comment:
...witness something amazing? Tweet It. Share what you see, feel and experience as it happens, and others can know about it no matter where they are… #realtime