Customer Care Through Social Media

Customer service through social media is becoming mandatory. Your customers will be talking about you--whether you are there or not. It serves their needs, and your reputation, if you are there for the conversation they have started. The best solution is to work actively in social media and use it to your advantage. Below are suggestions for entering the social media arena. 

LISTEN and LEARN: Browse around social media sites.  Learn the protocols and etiquette of  these sites if you are new to this world before you start talking. Before you jump in to support your brand, listen and understand what the customer is saying. 

LEARN MORE: Remember that this is free marketing research. Are there certain topics that dominate discussions of your industry? What is being written about your firm? While one remark may not be representative of the majority of your customer’s views, every comment out there may contain the hint of a way to make your product better, or perhaps identify some uses you never thought of. 

LISTEN. ASK. LISTEN: The best thing about social media is it puts you directly in touch with your customers. Use this powerful medium to listen to your customers. Ask them what you can do to make their lives simpler. That’s the easiest way to increasing customer satisfaction and retention…determine what they need! 

ACT: If there is a problem, or an unmet need, open a dialogue with the user. Ask questions to fully understand the issue, and propose a resolution. 

DON’T IGNORE: If you decide to place your brand out in social media-- be diligent. Never ignore customers. Concerns that seem simple, petty, or trivial: they are not. If it didn't matter to the customer, they wouldn't have logged-on to type. Remember, any failure to respond effectively will be broadcast widely. 

FOLLOW-UP: Immediately follow-up (and tell the customer that you will be doing so) so that they know you care about service.  Many people in business now prefer to be “followed-up” via e-mail, and not on the phone.  Always leave room at the end for any OTHER comments they may have.  “How would you improve the product?”  “Could we have found a better way to resolve your concerns?” 

NO SCRIPTING: Be you on your blog/Facebook/Twitter interactions. Do not use scripted answers. When someone reaches out to you on a social networking site, they are not looking for an automated response. Be the real person they want to talk to. Nothing annoys more than a canned sentence response--and yes, everyone knows if one is used.

DON’T BLUFF: This rule applies to customer service through any channel, not just to social media. But bluffing on social media can prove even more costly. Your inability to stand good on your promise will be broadcast to net surfers around the world. 

ENCOURAGE YOUR TEAM: While it’s great to have your top management blog and be in touch with customers, it’s even better to have your team interact with customers. Let’s face it—the front-line team is the one in contact with customers in the off-line world. So, let them play to their strengths online too.

Interacting with your clients on social media lends you a unique perspective. You gradually learn that your customers are not just your target audience, but real people with real needs. And this understanding automatically helps you serve your customers better.
For more information visit www.newplans.com or e-mail at support@newplans.com

Brand Management; New avenues for brand positioning

Branding was traditionally synonymous with logos and advertisements, mascots and bottle designs. The modern definition of “Branding” has abandoned this dated and non-customer-interactive notion. Brand management is the complex effort to ensure that once a product is positioned, every single interaction a customer has with the organization precisely reflects that positioning. In short, every touch-point should be in lockstep with the message. (Disney and McDonalds take this so seriously they created “colleges” for their employees) The challenge is managing and unifying the message as the number of meeting places with customers expands.
The challenge here is to project a consistent Brand image at all of these locations. From every contact, customers take away a perception of the company that builds –or distorts-its brand image. With the addition of each new channel for interaction comes the challenge to keep that channel in line with your internal brand positioning. On top of this, remember that social networking has created a very public space where the customer initiates a discussion of the brand, not the enterprise.

In summary, all of these new platforms offer great new opportunities to reach new markets, and new customers in old market. However, they add layers of complexity and risk to the task of ensuring each interaction is appropriate and reflective of your brand
With these challenges facing the Brand Management function, below are some of the solutions
Automation Can Help
Use of technology can simplify the complex process of brand management. A good branding or marketing automation software program can help in the following areas
CONSISTENCY - A marketing automation program can lend the all-important element of consistency to Branding. Whether the company logo is appearing on a flyer, print advertisement, sales presentation or on its social networking page, automation can help ensure that the logo and other corporate branding mechanisms are consistent with the company standards.
COST & TIME SAVINGS - By leveraging technology offered by marketing automation programs, the company can save on certain branding-related costs. For example, it would cost the company much more in terms of dollars and time if it had to individually brand every corporate communication. An advanced marketing automation program can replicate brand elements faster throughout the various communication channels, and at a lower cost than traditional methods. In short, it achieves greater accuracy, lower cost, and faster response times, all with a consistent message.
COORDINATION -   A good marketing automation software program would make sure that there’s conformity among all the marketing channels. The company’s message goes to the various avenues (including social media, e-mail marketing) in the same form and manner, assuring no dilution or distortion of the company message
By bringing the various elements of brand management onto a single platform, automation might just be the solution for the problems haunting brand management today.

To know more, visit www.newplans.com or e-mail at support@newplans.com

Plan of action to drive traffic to your website


Ever wondered what it takes to get frequent visitors on your website? Just launching a website is not sufficient to boost your website traffic and attract leads. Your efforts should go beyond adding tags and keywords.

Here are a few things to get you started -

Search engine optimization
Search engine optimization is important to a business as 90% of all online traffic is achieved through the various search engines. Therefore, the key to success is to know how well you can properly market your company through search engine optimization.

Submit articles and press releases
Write articles and press releases and submit to various sites online. Make sure to mention your company contact information at the end of each post.

Social media marketing
Develop online presence by actively participating on major social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc. Keep people engaged with relevant materials and offers.

Blogging
Write and post blogs about your business on a regular basis. Frequency of the post can range from 3 to 5 times a week.

Marketing forum
Join your business related forum where you can converse with other people involved in the forum. Encourage people to post comments and participate.

For more infomration visit www.newplans.com or email to support@newplans.com


New improved Flash templates with music among latest enhancements

This month, Newplans successfully released several product enhancements including flash templates with music.

Additional enhancements include –

1.    Enhanced SEO features to boost web traffic and better search engine rankings.
2.    Auto e-mail sent to users with status report of project performance on a daily basis.  
3.    Multiple project e-mail blast capability to send all or selective listings in one email to recipients.
4.    Option to upload any external video to existing presentation.
5.    Data to be retained when shuffling between different templates to save time.
6.    Additional fields added to customize templates for specific users.
7.    Enhanced HTML editor for better text formatting.
8.    Easy drag and drop option to arrange images in image gallery.
9.    Projects to be auto saved to save projects instantly.