Using Facebook, Twitter and Skype to communicate with customers is essential to your business. You have to be where your customers are located, and they are on these social networks. Having a presence on these networks allows your customers to:
- Ask you questions
- Get help to fix their problems, right away
There really isn't a way to hide from customers. Doesn't matter if they like you, or hate you, they will talk about you on the multitude of social networks they are using, whether you have a presence on these networks or not. As a business, you have to be able to resolve issues the best way you can, having a presence on the most popular networks allows you to be able to speak directly to the problem or issue before it blows out of proportion.
According to Jon Swartz (USA TODAY) in his article, Businesses use Twitter to communicate with customers, businesses can grow from using social networks:
"Customer feedback that leads to enhanced services. Starbucks is using a blend of social media via Twitter (@Starbucks; over 230,000 followers), Facebook (3.2 million fans) and its own social-networking site (MyStarbucksIdea.com) for product ideas and feedback. Splash sticks, the company's new plastic plugs for sip holes, were created in part through feedback."
At Ninja Web Studios, we use these networks to communicate with our customers on a daily basis. Our customers question us through private messages on these social networks for help, or through instant messaging services, such as MSN Messenger. We use Skype for video calls, file transfers and screen sharing. Skype is essential to our long-distance customers on the east and west coast, Bermuda, Canada and Japan, allowing them to communicate with us through "face-to-face" meetings.
In today's world, you have to be available to your customers, to keep them satisfied, referring others and coming back for more.
