This Week’s Social Media Top Stories
3 Ways to Get Powerful Results with Twitter Without Tweeting
Chris Syme via Social Media Today writes about 3 simple ways to use Twitter without tweeting and how these results will benefit you. The first way is to “power search”, which basically lets you search for key terms that your product targets. This will generate a list of user as well as tweets that you can then connect with. Another way is to “Power Research “which is a way of following certain users or hashtags without having to click the follow button. This will allow you to keep up with competitors or peers all in one list. The search can be local to a specific geographically location or general to all of Twitter. The last way mentioned is to use Twitter Hashtags to generate buzz around events or your company in general. Using hashtags will make it easier to have conversations with followers or potential followers.
These 3 ways are very simple to do and should be used in monitoring users, keywords, or hashtags for your brand. Hootsuite is a powerful tool that can make this very simple. You can create columns in the dashboard with your Power search words, or your researched hashtags. Having the ability to monitor these lists that you’re created in one area is a great way to manage your time more efficiently as well as connect with your target audience faster.
HootSuite Adds Real-Time Chat to Dashbaord
Mashable’s own Brian Anthony Hernandez talks about the new feature Hootsuite just rolled out to its users. Hootsuite users already have a plethora of tools to use at their disposal but more are welcomed. Hootsuite conversation is the new add on that basically encourages collaboration among colleagues within the Hootsuite dashboard. Companies can now be more efficient on sharing information about a particular tweet or Facebook post. Before you may have had to link or copy and paste the post in an email to share it, but now you can grab the post from within Hootsuite’s dashboard and it in their new communication tool.
Although this may not be one of Hootsuite’s biggest updates, it creates a real time experience among coworkers. This can make collaboration much easier when it comes to solving a problem that a customer has shared on one of your social networks. Brainstorming ideas or ways to communicate with your audience can all be done within the group conversation. Without having to leave the conversation, team members can reply to the tweet or post directly from the group. Companies that may be using Hootsuite and have more than one social media manager should consider utilizing this feature.
42 Percent of Consumers Complaining in Social Media Expect 60 Minute Response Time
The issue of Social customer service is getting more popular. Jay Baer brings up some astonishing statistics on how consumers expect their Social interaction to be handled. As stated in the article 42% of customers expect to be responded to within an hour, and 32% expect to be contacted within 30 minutes. Customers are becoming savvier and realize that putting a complaint or issue on your networks where others can see, is a great way to get a response. The issue now becomes can your company handle the fast turnaround time consumers are demanding. Not only do they want a fast response time but 57% of them expect this on weekend and not just during work hours.
The real question is can your brand handle this? Larger companies may already have multiple members dedicated to social media, so the task of responding in time is easier. Smaller businesses or startup companies need to work out a system to keep customers happy and answered in a timely matter. The last thing you want to happen is to have no one responding to the issue, which in turn will make the customer more frustrated with your brand. Even if you have to reply to the customer and say “your message has been received and we will reply to you with an answer shortly” is better than not saying anything at all. This may not satisfy everyone but at least they know you are aware of their situation. Does your company have a plan in place for this type of customer service?
Page Like Totals Drop as Facebook Begins Purge of Fake Accounts, Likes
AllFacebook writes about the way Facebook is handling fake accounts. Facebook has announced it is starting to purge fake accounts and remove likes that may have been purchased. While a lot of the top Facebook pages lost a lot of likes, the percent decrease was minimal. Facebook’s goal is “When a page and fan connect on Facebook, we want to ensure that the connection involves a real person interested in hearing from a specific page and engaging with that brand’s content.” Removing malicious likes or fake likes benefits both the page owner and the actual fans.
Page owners don’t be alarmed if you see a drop in likes, this was bound to happen and should be welcomed. You will now have a better grasp of your fan base and can see the interaction between them. Pages that gained likes by buying them should have seen this coming. Having purchased large likes doesn’t gain your company or page any more business. Other users may be fooled at first when they think they like a page that a lot of others have, but when they start to see 0 interactions they may get skeptical. Be honest to your followers and interact with them, they are the ones you want not fakes.