10 tips to strengthen your customer experience using four social media platforms

I recently had the outstanding opportunity to lead a Webinar for MarketingProfs (transparency alert: I blog for the MarketingProfs Daily Fix regularly) members on how to strengthen customer experience using four key social media platforms. For an hour-and-a-half we discussed where customers are in their experience online, what customers expect from brands on social platforms and 10 tips you can use to strengthen your customer’s experience using four social media platforms (blogs, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube).

Here’s the full deck—it’s full of examples, case studies and, of course, 10 actionable tips.

Here’s a link to the full recording and Q&A which is free for MarketingProfs PRO members.

Three tips from my presentation that really stand out to me are:

Know which platform works best when.

Knowing when your customers are in their experience is absolutely key to choosing the right tool to solve their needs. But knowing which tool to use in which phase is just as important. If customers are in the research and evaluation phase, it might make sense to use blog and YouTube content since those are highly searchable formats. If you’re looking to serve existing customers’ needs, Twitter might make the most sense.  I’ve created this handy PDF tool above to demonstrate when and where different social media can best affect customer experience.

Focus on your customers—not your competitors.

It feels a lot like the mid-90s doesn’t it? Back then, everyone was launching a web site. And some companies were launching sites just because their competitors were. Same goes for social media right now. Don’t explore tools just because your competitors are exploring them. Go back and focus on your customers and the needs they want solved. And see which social tools can help you do that. Nothing more.

Align your troops. Regularly.

One issue that’s not discussed as much as it probably should be in online circles (or among senior management, for that matter) is the notion of aligning your internal resources and putting the full weight of your teams and people into solving your customer’s problems. I work with and see organizations every day smartly managing teams, staff and actions across departments and groups as a “system” (i.e., a performance chain). This is just a matter of applying that same concept to the use of social media channels. I used Sleep Number as an example in the presentation—what I see them doing online in terms of solving customer needs leads me to believe they’re highly integrated and aligned across the organization.

Those are my favorite tips. What about you? Which of the 10 were most useful for your target experience and need you’re solving for your customers? What suggestions would you give to brands looking to strengthen their customer experience through social media tools?