Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight

85% of consumers say it is important or very important to them to do business with a company for which they have strong emotions, per survey results [download page] released in November 2012 by rbb Public Relations. But that connection is more important in some industries than others, and appears to matter more in industries where products are more complex and less of a commoditized.

For example, 76% of respondents say that an emotional connection is important from healthcare providers, with that connection built upon personal and proactive communications from the provider. Banking (63%) was next, followed by professional services (62%). A high proportion also value emotional connections when it comes to travel (56%), insurance (55%), auto (52%), technology (44%) and food (also 44%)....

To understand how the best sell on social and earn a positive ROI on their social investment, we researched 100 of the top social selling e-commerce brands on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. For two weeks, we recorded each of their posts across six dimensions: 1. type (video, image, or text), 2. purpose (promote product or brand building), 3. copy, 4. whether it was linked, 5. whether it was original or user-generated content (including retweets and repins), and 6. posting time.

We then compiled this data and analyzed it for patterns. Here’s what we found to be the best practices for social posting that drives sales

Is your company using social media to provide a better customer service experience and respond to customer outreach? Many are not! As Ferris Bueller said “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” And if you are not paying attention to your customers use of social media get customers service issues resolved, then you could be caught with your corporate pants down!

42% of consumers who complain on social media expect a response in under sixty minutes. (Source: Edison Research) So, do you really need to worry about using social media for your company’s customer service program? Why staff a socially savvy group of service reps when you already have a web site, email and a phone? Well, if your customer service program is like Cameron’s (from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) home “”The place is like a museum. It’s very beautiful and very cold, and you’re not allowed to touch anything”, then you need to reconsider your strategy.

Your customers are on a changing customer service-seeking journey and are abandoning the old-school waiting for the “customer-service desk” experience. They are tweeting themselves to the front of the virtual customer service line. And, with 95% of people commiserating with others about their sub-par customer-service experiences, then that would mean a resounding … you need to do something about it!

Zendesk, a cloud-based customer service software platform, thought that finding out this information was so important that they commissioned Dimensional Research. Customers also share great experiences too, with 87% sharing good interactions with others. So, it’s not all bad news....