Using Social Media for Customer Service

by After Interactive

Finding new customers for any business is always a good way to grow your company. However, a good business professional can't forget to keep their current customers. These customers can serve as ambassadors for your company and also buy additional services/products. Social media is a great platform to use for offering great customer service to keep your current customers happy. What are some ways social media can be used for customer service?

1. Real Time Help - People use social media at all times of the day whether its the middle of the day or the middle of the afternoon.  In addition, people expect a prompt response through social media. For example, a customer may post on a coffee shop's Facebook what time they open in the morning. Leaving this question unanswered may cause this individual to take their business elsewhere.  
2. Rewards - If someone decides to follow your company on social media, that means they're interested in what you have to say.  However, don't just end the relationship by just giving them great content to engage with on social media.  Reward these individuals. If you have a restaurant, offer them a coupon for a free appetizer since this will drive them to your business and buy more during that visit than just the appetizer.  What about an IT services company?  Offer a free white paper to executives who sign up to learn how to lower IT costs which your sales team can use to identify sales leads.
3. Evangelize - The people that follow your company on social media want to hear from you and spread your message to others.  Show them they made the right decision by creating engaging content that they will want to engage with in the form of a like, comment, or share. Each time they do that then the people in the social media network will see this which will give your company greater visibility.  

Keeping your current customers through great customer service will help grow your company because they will tell others about your business and buy more from you.  Social media marketing is the best way to use to keep your customers happy.  If done right, social media can be the most the effective way to grow your business by keeping your current customers happy.

Why Your Business Needs A Social Media Strategy

by After Interactive

When was the last time you made the decision to go on vacation?  You probably had a specific location you wanted to visit, knew how to get there, and how long you were going to be there. In essence, you had developed a strategy in order for this vacation to actually happen. However, many companies seem to think operating without a strategy is the way to go. Why does it make sense for a company to have a social media strategy in place?  Here are a few reasons:

1. Goals - Just like going on vacation, if you don't know where you're going how do you know when you've gotten there?  What are your companies goals? Perhaps its having people sign up for free trial offers or fill out a survey your sales team can use to follow up as a lead. Determining what your company's goals will lay the foundation for how you get there as well as how you know you've gotten there.
2. Resources - If you're planning a trip to Europe from the US you know you can either fly or take a ship whereas driving is not an option. When planning your company's social media strategy, you'll need to determine how you're going to achieve them. If your company targets CFOs of banks, LinkedIn is the ideal platform to target these business professionals. Perhaps your company makes wedding dresses for soon to be brides. This means Instagram may be the best platform to focus your company's efforts on.
3. Measurement - If you can't measure it, don't do it. Since social media marketing is essentially Internet marketing, tracking metrics for success is relatively easy to do. If your company is an ecommerce business, tracking online traffic from social media and tracking sales can be used to determine success.  How about a commercial real estate services company?  Perhaps having your receptionist keep track of incoming calls and how they heard about your company is one way to measure success.  

Just like you plan an upcoming vacation, developing a strategy for your company's social media efforts will be the only way to achieve success.  Without a strategy, it would be like if you got in your car trying to drive to Europe. You wouldn't do something as irrational as this in your personal life. Why would your company do something similar?

The Difference Between B2B & B2C Social Media Strategy

by After Interactive 

The way a retail store and an IT services company markets and ultimately acquires customers are completely different. The same things carries over to social media marketing.  However, just like in marketing their are significant differences in marketing and finding customers if you sell to consumers as a business-to-consumer (B2C) company versus selling to businesses as a business-to-business (B2B) company.  What are these differences when it comes to social media marketing?

1. Focus on Platform - For a B2B company, marketing takes a spray and pray approach. As a result, Facebook serves as the best platform for this. However, since B2B companies have specific industries, companies, and decision makers they target, LinkedIn serves as the best platform to achieve this type of targeted marketing.
2. Positioning - For a restaurant, it's important to be considered as a location that has a great atmosphere for you to come to after work to have a couple of beers. However, for a B2B company the focus is to be positioned as a thought leader in your industry.  Why? Because at the end of the day your customers want to know you have the answers they need.
3. ROI - Sales are an ultimate indicator of success for any marketing initiative.  However, for a retail store it can take a lot of immediate sales to recoup the expense for social media marketing. Therefore, PR & branding becomes the primary focus of social media ROI for a B2C company. However, for a B2B company the ultimate ROI is measured in terms of sales leads which can be converted to actual sales.  

Many B2C and B2B companies recognize the inherent differences in marketing and customer acquisition.  However, when it comes to social media marketing many companies seem to think what works for a retail store will work for a commercial real estate company.  Know the differences and start using social media to grow your business.

Insurance Blog Of The Future

As founder of the NTAP group I try to shy away from any self promotion and let this blog be used for our members and other great companies that have information to share. I have spent the last few months working on a new blog for my insurance business and I wanted to share it with you.

Let's be honest insurance is a BORING topic for the general public. I mean really when was the last time you took enjoyment in having a good insurance conversation? I be the answer is NEVER!!!! It's okay I get it. I am weird and find insurance awesome, which is why I do it and I'm good at it.

I created a blog that I hoped would be informative, entertaining, and engaging all at the same time. I think I have been able to accomplish that with the new blog I call Insurance With Sean. Okay I can't take all the credit...Ryan Stewman of www.hardcorecloser.com helped me with the concept, design, and well pretty much everything but HEY that's what he does. He can't sell insurance any more than I can be a marketing guru. That's why I hire him for marketing and he hires me for insurance.


CLICK HERE TO SEE MY NEW BLOG!!

I hope you will take a few minutes and share the site with those that you know. My goal is to have this be a place for people to go to get a good laugh, see top producers, and learn a thing or two about insurance in Texas.

Sean Matheis

CLICK HERE TO SEE MY NEW BLOG!!

Madison Hildebrand Networks With NTAP

We have grown so much in the past 12 months. Our membership is up over 400% since our inception. I am so thankful for the past 12 months and all those who have so generously supported our events. We have been able to close over 500 referrals and support a number of non-profits with our donations. We had 331 professionals attend the year end event with Madison Hildebrand (Star of the hit tv series Million Dollar Listing LA). Madison wasn't the only celebrity that hit the red carpets with us we also had Tara Harper (star of the hit tv series Most Eligible Dallas), SaraBeth Swagerty (Country Music Star), Detective Gomez (from the hit tv series Cheeters), Ron Corning (WFAA Day Break), Mrs. Texas 2012 Kayla Wharton, Mrs. Texas United Belinda Ramsey, and many more.

We had a number of CEO's top income earners, sales professionals, the best of the best in real estate that DFW has to offer were also there. We are dedicated to brining out the most elite guest list that networking has to offer. You never know who you may just run into at our events so make sure you are at all of them that you can. you can find us at:

www.ntap.biz

www.ntapevetns.com

www.facebook.com/myntap

www.youtube.com/ntaptv

Measuring Social Media ROI

by After Interactive 

The goal of a business is to make a profit.  Therefore the strategies, tactics, and tools it uses should be used to help achieve that goal.  The question a good business owner asks is how do you measure the Return On Investment?  The same should be said when it comes to social media marketing.  Many so called "gurus" speak about brand engagement, gamification, and engagement as if they were a snake oil salesman.  However, you're running a business and not a social media frat house.  So how is social media ROI measured?  Below are a few social media metrics to go by:

1. Website Traffic - Your company's website serves as the online storefront for your business. The quantity and quality of traffic that social media sends to your website is an indicator of sales opportunities being sent to your company.  
2. Market Reach - The more people that follow your business on social media signifies your business is getting more visibility.  In essence, these are sales potential sales opportunities that need to be cultivated and converted.  
3. Sales - This is typically the ultimate metric of success for any business using social media. Depending on the type of business you're in, there are a few ways to track sales. Either by asking customers how they heard about you, tracking form fills on your website, or asking your customers when they come into your business how they heard about you, tracking revenue from social media is highly dependent on the type of business you are operating.  

Determining the ROI of any initiative is crucial to determine if a company's dollars are being spent properly.  Social media marketing should be approached the same way to determine if it's actually effective for your company. If you can't measure it, why do it?

Using Social Media to Boost SEO

by After Interactive

Many potential customers use search engines like Google to find services / products they may need. Therefore it becomes important that your website is optimized for search engines like Google. By focusing your website's content and architecture around keyphrases your customers are looking for, you can ensure your business is as visible as possible online.  In addition, it will also be able to get customers from these search queries.  However, social media can actually be used to boost a company's website searchability. How?

1. Keyphrases - Search engines are programmed to determine what content on a webpage is about. By focusing on keywords and embedding keywords in your company's social media efforts you will make it easier for search engines to determine what your content is about. This means it will be easier for search engines to deliver your content in the search results of your potential customers.
2. Shareability - Make your content as helpful as possible to your target audience. By doing this you increase the possibility of your potential customers sharing your content with others. This increases visibility and builds a spider web of links that search engines like to crawl.
3. Blogs - Platforms like this are a great opportunity for a few reasons.  First, it gives your opportunity to create shareable content.  Second, you have the ability to link back to your website which search engines will give increased value to versus the websites of your competitors. Finally, by focusing on keywords your blogs will make it easier for search engines to figure out what and to whom to deliver your content to in search results. 

By using social media to deliver more search traffic to your website, your business will gain more visibility.  Through more visibility your company will gain new customers which is what it's all about. Isn't it?