How does social media affect Customer Experience, and what does this mean for social selling?

Customer experience, often called CX, refers to customers' holistic perception of their experience with a business or brand. It involves all customer interactions with your company across all stages of the customer's journey, from pre-sales to the service they receive post-sale. Customer experience matters because it can increase retention, brand loyalty, and reputation and ultimately create a competitive advantage.  

Social media can significantly influence customer experience through social media marketing or social selling, where salespeople use social media to interact with customers and prospects. In this article, we look at the highlights of our Straight to Business podcast interview with Marci Fluitt, a seasoned marketing professional.  

Marcy has over 17 years of experience across enterprise industries, from construction, engineering, manufacturing, and telecommunications and technology solutions. Her specialties are marketing strategy, new product introductions, and customer experience. What sets her apart is her passion to think about marketing holistically. Marcy always keeps the overall customer experience front and center while selling the brand solution value. Marcy's most recent position as global marketing director at Spectralink Corporation focused on digital marketing and introduced a social selling program. 

Our highlights will cover how social media affects the customer's journey and experience and what that means regarding social selling strategy. So, let's have a look at our key takeaways from our recent recording: 

Why are social media channels the place where brands can make an impact?   

To Marcy, social media "allows you to reach your existing and prospective audience, and it builds community and engagement and eventually customer loyalty as time goes on." A perk of social media is that it enables us to deeply connect with the audience on an emotional level by letting us proactively participate in conversations.   

Firstly, it is essential to know your audience, what makes them tick, what demographics or interests your audience has, and their customer needs. Because you want to show what you offer, you have to ask yourself how you will solve the customer's problem. What types of solutions is your audience looking for? And why should they care about your solution?  

Using these questions, you can create a message that resonates, causes emotion, or drives action. Analyzing your audience is equally important. What are they engaging with today that you can bring something new or innovative? How can you add meaningful conversation around the solution that you offer? Why should they consider you?  

One unique thing about social media is that you can engage directly with your audience, both as a brand and as an individual salesperson, and make it an ongoing conversation. If you offer value, your audience will engage in the discussion. To be top of mind to your customers, you must sustain those conversations.  

Regarding social selling, it's essential to be intentional in your messages. Too much irrelevant or distracting content or messaging can negatively impact the customer experience. Remember to remain consistent with that messaging. For example, stick to three to five things and repeat them in diverse ways. And don't distract or clutter the conversation with things that are not resonating or even relevant to your audience.  

How can you craft this strategy across the entire sales cycle?   

Every sales journey starts and ends with the customer, whether a new acquisition or a repurchase. Journey mapping is a method to outline the areas of customer experience to show the areas in which a brand can have the most significant impact. This practice refers to intentionally outlining the knowledge you want your customer to have and how you offer solutions at each step of that customer's journey.  

A frequent practice in this field is cooperation with different departments to shape the customer experience. The marketing team often creates messaging, but you want it consistent across the entire sales cycle. It is always important to break down your customers into profile groups to build a set of messaging to engage with a particular audience. "So, if it's a new acquisition, you want to do that in a different way than if it's a repurchase opportunity," Marcy explains. "You want to determine the appropriate messaging that's going to resonate across these different buyer profiles." This approach allows you an opening, getting your audience to click and learn more or to schedule a demo with you.  

How do you shape messaging on social that is consistent between what the company puts out and what individuals put out?   

"I think to really make it easy, look at it in a three-pronged approach," Marcy states. First, you start at the top of the funnel, where you try to attract or build brand awareness by talking to more of a prospective audience. While building that awareness messaging, you add new messaging to continue nurturing that audience that has engaged with you until now as the second step. The third part is upselling and retention or having that customer recommend your brand to someone else. These three areas are critical to research and analyze when creating a strategy.  

While these steps need a lot of focus, you can utilize social media throughout the sales cycle. The reason behind this is that it is the brand's opportunity to reach a broader network of people and a way to be a part of conversations that are already happening. No matter what stage you're in, there will always be an audience, so there is no discernable stage that one should start implementing social media. By participating in communication, you spread knowledge about your company and what you have to offer.   

When we look at social selling, we expect to be perceived as a thought leader, as an expert in your industry. So, you need to talk about industry trends and other topics your audience is interested in. "There are times where you can curate your message to be in that correct brand or voice, but you also want to give [your audience] a couple of ideas that they could think about," Marcy says. Ask yourself, "What's going to really drive the interest or facilitate a solution to that need? We can proactively be a part of that conversation and educate in our areas, then offer other suggestions or recommendations as a thought leader."  

How does sales cycle acceleration matter in terms of building the customer experience?  

Because social media is such a fast-moving medium, interactions happen much quicker, with more people on each side of the organization. Marcy states, "I think the more touch points where you can proactively control the customer experience or show how your solution meets their needs with that same consistent message, it's going to build that brand authenticity and add so much credibility throughout the customer journey." If we look at B2B, interacting with the decision-making unit on the other side, you usually need a lot of touchpoints until you get to the decision. Social media and social selling generate all these touch points across the sales cycle, and you need to be prepared for quick-paced interactions with your clients.  

A brand must build authenticity and credibility throughout the customer's journey. By setting your sales team up to anticipate some of those market triggers and opportunities, they can resonate on a deeper level and be considered more of an expert in the field. A focus on authenticity amplifies your network reach and speeds up the market activity.   

"It goes back to knowing your audience and understanding your customers' needs," Marcy adds. It is imperative to practice social listening and build your knowledge base. Knowing where customers stand, listening to what they're saying on social media, and finding out what they expect from a brand or from you helps build and tweak your strategies and messages. You can get a lot out of reading and listening to what your audience is doing today on social media.  

In conclusion, listening to and interacting with your audience authentically is essential. In today's age, we often forget that customers are human beings with fears and desires just like ours. Listening to what customers say on social media and improving your strategy will set you apart from other sellers. Ultimately, the goal is to build lasting relationships with customers, so it's critical to be authentic and observant to interact with others in the most meaningful way.