The Social Media Bible: Tactics, Tools, and Strategies for Business Success, 3rd Edition

Other Customers

The most obvious use for social media is for marketing, sales, public relations, and communications. Remember, social media is about communicating with your customers. Social media is a set of highly effective tools for customer service, business-to-business (B2B), and internal communications.

Marketing and sales is in part responsible for prospects converting to customers, but in many cases it’s what happens after the sales that encourage existing customers to purchase again and, as you read earlier, encourage prospects to become customers. An angry customer will tell up to 20 other people about a bad experience. A satisfied customer shares good experiences with 9 to 12 people. If you are in customer service, social media is a must. It’s the perfect tool for staying connected with your customers after the sale.

B2B

If you are a company that sells B2B (business-to-business), then social media has to be an integral part of your strategy. I have been in marketing for nearly three decades and while many insist that B2B is significantly different from B2C (business-to-consumer), I disagree. There are some subtle differences, but in B2B, the second B is still a C. The reseller is still a consumer or customer.

I agree that there is some information that should be between you and your reseller such as pricing, training, and customer support, but the majority of your conversation would benefit your end user. Set up a password-protected website and direct SMS text messaging ...