Customers are no longer content to passively consume your advertising. They want to engage in conversations with your brand and they don't care what department they reach. They want to dialog with your brand whenever and however they choose. They want the companies they buy from to be responsive, to acknowledge and reward their feedback, and provide all these experiences quickly, cohesively and in an engaging way. The social media revolution has irrevocably changed the way people communicate—with each other and with the brands they purchase and support. The good news/bad news is that while 80% of CEOs report that getting closer to their customers is a top priority, they remain unclear on exactly how social media can help them get there. The question of whether your businesses should engage with customers using social media has been answered with a resounding "yes!"

1. social support with
online communities
reorganizing around the social customer for business advantage

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contents
1 intro
2 why social support
3 what is social support
4 why you need peer-to-peer engagement
5 successful social support solution must-haves
7 summary
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intro
Customers are no longer content to passively consume with brands across social media is to find customer service
your advertising. They want to engage in conversations with —a figure that is expected to grow enormously in the next 12
your brand and they don’t care what department they reach. to 24 months. Gartner predicts that social CRM will be a $1
They want to dialog with your brand whenever and however bill market by 2012
they choose. They want the companies they buy from to be
The good news/bad news is that while 80% of CEOs report
responsive, to acknowledge and reward their feedback, and
that getting closer to their customers is a top priority , they
provide all these experiences quickly, cohesively and in an
remain unclear on exactly how social media can help them
engaging way.
get there.
And they’ve discovered they can get much of it by interacting
The question of whether your businesses should engage
with each other through social networks. They’re blogging
with customers using social media has been answered with
and Tweeting about your promotions and campaigns, helping
a resounding “yes!” Today’s most successful social brands
each other with common questions, solving product issues
are tapping into the power of social media to build not only
and sharing ideas and enthusiasm for your brand across
closer customer relationships, but brand nations—places
social media every day.
where customers can connect with and support each other,
The social media revolution has irrevocably changed the influence your products, share their enthusiasm for your
way people communicate—with each other and with the brand and carry its flag out into the world on your behalf.
brands they purchase and support. Thirty-seven percent of
consumers now report that the primary reason they interact
how consumers use social media
Consumers report that after connecting with a brand
through social media, they
• feel a sense of trust with the brand
• feel like an insider with the brand, and 18% 37% 74%
• feel that the company cares about them. of consumers now of consumers use of consumers state that
begin the path to social media for they prefer to engage
purchase through customer service with the brand through
social media social media after
making a purchase 1

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why social support
the business value of social
customer solutions
Customer expectations today are enormous and social
customers especially are fully empowered to make significant Social media technology gives companies
demands upon the brands they engage. The old adage that access to previously untapped value in customer
one dissatisfied customer tells ten others takes on new generated content and the brand advocates
meaning on a platform like Facebook where your customer’s that produce it. Here are things top brands
voice could very well now reach millions. are motivating their customers to with social
customer solutions:
Today’s top brands aren’t simply adapting to the disruptive
force of social media, they’re embracing it whole hog.
Innovate: Collectively, your customers know as
They’re rethinking traditional support strategies at the speed
of innovation and re-engineering the kinds of customer
much or more about your product usage than
relationships they want to develop, centering them on
you do. They have terrific ideas for product
collaboration and engagement.
improvements and new capabilities.
Promote: The web is a giant word-of-mouth
megaphone for your customers. Listen to them,
acknowledge and reward their input, amplify
their voices and they can create a groundswell of
support for your brand.
Support: Peer-to-peer support, often one of
the first social initiatives for many companies,
is one of the best ways for social customers to
get answers—and often the preferred service
channel—resulting in significant savings from
call deflection.
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what is social
support
Imagine a conversation about your company’s products
on Twitter:
@brandcop145: Does #widget come with good service?
A customer advocate takes note and tweets the thread in reply.
@WidgetFun: @brandcop145: check out what the #widget
community has to say: www.WidgetFun.com
You social marketing manager sees the question in the
Twitter feed and brings the question into your company’s
forum, where other community members can respond. Now,
you own the all the data generated around the question and Social support—building unassisted support channels
anyone who follows your company has access to it. through social media—works so well because it scales so
well. Enabling social customers to help each other vastly
@brandcop145 visits the Widget Fun customer community extends the reach of your service arm at minimal cost. But,
and not only sees how others have answered his question, but simply plugging social channels directly into your service
can also have deeper conversations—ask specific questions organization won’t get you there.
and get answers from experienced users.
The ability for social customers to support each other is
wholly dependent upon the underlying customer network
that binds them. Without a critical mass of customer
advocates—a passionately engaged brand nation—the
integration of your listening technology, your CRM system
and your community platform won’t do much to drive real
business outcomes.
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why you need
peer-to-peer
engagement
To derive real value from the conversations happening Winning companies are embracing the social revolution and
across your customer network—to turn them into something reorganizing themselves around the new social customer—
meaningful and productive—the first task at hand is to enable the empowered, impatient, vocal and very giving social
them to talk to each other. customer. These companies are better engaged with their
customers not only one-to-one, but also in the increasingly
The problem lies in the fact that when it comes to today’s social
important peer-to peer, many-to-many venues where their
customers, most support systems are inside out. Designed
customers now live and breathe. Peer-to-peer engagement
with the company’s needs in mind, for the agent or the
gives them the opportunity to turn good customers into
manager looking for a sales optimization report, businesses
better ones and the best customers into full-fledged brand
are missing opportunities to connect with customers who want
advocates—their most passionately engaged superfans.
to engage in relationships with their brands in meaningful
Those who build brand nations with more superfans than
ways—across every level of the organization.
their competitors are gaining unparalleled advantage.
For every one-to-one conversation between the company and
a customer or prospect, the company is missing hundreds
or even thousands of conversations between customers,
influencers, and prospects. The social web is forcing those who
care about customer relationships to expand their thinking
beyond the optimization of a two-way relationship between the
brand and the customer and find ways to enable simultaneous
relationships between the customers themselves.
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successful social
support solution
must-haves
Social support—the point at which online customer 2. User profiling and reputation management
communities, social networks, and traditional customer service
meet—is growing up. In order to meet the growing list of The ability to identify and cultivate those who will amplify your
demands your social customers are making on your brand (and brand message—your advocates, influencers and superfans—
that your competitor is satisfying, by the way), brands must is crucial.
both build their own social presence and reach out across the
But before you can mobilize your advocates, you have to find
larger social web.
out who’s talking and know what they’re saying. Social media,
Here are the must-haves for a successful social by its very transparent nature, is of tremendous assistance
support solution: to companies in the perpetual quest to know and market to
their customers better. Through social media, not only can
1. An online community companies listen to their customers, they can also observe
how they behave in social situations, measure their impact in
An online community is your brand’s beachhead in the social
the marketplace, and connect with them directly.
web and a jumping-off point for future inroads.
Now, more than ever, reputation matters. In the world of
It’s the cornerstone of a social support solution—a business
Social CRM, a good customer is no longer the one who
tool that encourages participation and interaction among
buys the most. A reputation system that identifies the most
social customers who don’t know one another. Online
active contributors lets marketers easily reward members’
communities help brands to get social customers to trust
participation and nurture their positive behavior.
each other, help each other and advocate for your brand.
Community is at the heart of all social customer solutions A reputation management system is also essential to enable
because the community is the means by which customers content consumers—who far outnumber content creators—
become brand citizens. to separate the useful from the non-useful and categorize
content as relevant and trustworthy, immediately adding value
The most common online communities include forums, blogs,
to otherwise anonymous advice or reviews. Networks like
chat, idea exchanges, and wikis. Online community members
Yelp and eBay thrive on user reputation. A strong reputation
typically use social bookmarking, tagging, RSS feeds, and
fosters trust among the community members and makes the
search to organize and access the community content they’re
individual more influential.
most interested in.
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3. Social Web Integration 4. CRM integration
You already have a customer network. Conversations about Simply showing up and listening is not enough. Successful
your band and products are happening on Facebook, on social support systems are based on strong ties from the
Twitter, and on hundreds of similar social sites every day. And social web to the company’s internal processes, allowing all
more and more of them will continue to happen regardless of parts of the enterprise to take action.
whether or not your brand joins in.
Today’s most competitive brands are not simply capturing
The most successful social brands today are so because they marketing feedback, but acting upon it. They’re folding all
are not only listening to but diving headlong into these social the valuable data they glean from social media into their
customer conversations with gusto. They listen, acknowledge, business processes, knowledge stores, sales prospecting, and
respond, reward, explore and engage their social customers marketing automation tools.
wherever they are—in online communities, on Facebook and
Twitter, and through mobile devices. In the process, they’re
5. Actionable analytics
tapping a veritable gold mine of business intelligence— The most social competitive brands look for data-driven
spontaneous, unsolicited market feedback—which gives them insights that point to trends and optimal paths to ROI.
the capability meet customer needs, improve satisfaction,
to build long term customer loyalty and maximize customer In the fast-evolving world of the social web, companies are
lifetime value. constantly iterating on their social engagement practices,
trying new strategies and learning from both their successes
and failures. Solid analytics are essential for all of the varied
stakeholders in the enterprise to measure the effectiveness of
their programs and to make course corrections as needed. All
of the interactions that occur in a community are generating
a gold mine of data for the company. In the hands of people
who can act on it immediately, this data gives companies
a tremendous competitive advantage. The close proximity
that companies have to their own community data lets them
respond to rapidly shifting conditions at web speed.
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summary
A social revolution has changed the way people communicate— Social customer conversations will continue to create buzz—
with each other and with the brands they purchase and good or bad—regardless of whether or not brands join in. A
support. In the wake of this revolution, customers are no social support solution taps into the enormous latent value in
longer content to be passive consumers of advertising; instead, social customer networks and turns them into brand nations:
they want to engage in a conversation with their brands. They An online community of empowered social customers who
want the companies they buy from to be responsive and to willingly support and assist each other, enthusiastically rally
acknowledge their feedback. around your brand and your products, and give you feedback
that helps you keep your competitive advantage.
resources
1. http://www.slideshare.net/truthdefender/social-mediacrm
2. http://www.cloudave.com/10164/gartner-says-social-crm-market-will-
be-1-billion-in-2012/
3. ftp://public.dhe.ibm.com/common/ssi/ecm/en/gbe03391usen/
GBE03391USEN.PDF
Lithium social solutions helps the world’s most iconic brands to build brand nations—vibrant online communities of passionate social customers.
Lithium helps top brands such as AT&T, Sephora, Univision, and PayPal build active online communities that turn customer passion into social
media marketing ROI. For more information on how to create lasting competitive advantage with the social customer experience,
visit lithium.com, or connect with us on Twitter, Facebook and our own brand nation – the Lithosphere.
lithium.com | © 2012 Lithium Technologies, Inc. All Rights Reserved
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