Why are a Business’ Networks So Influential for Customer Engagement?
Networks reach far beyond just social, although it is more common than not that people connect to their “in person” networks via social media networks, making the two somewhat ubiquitous.
By default, we trust people that we are close with and for some reason we also show more implicit trust to the brands we follow. In fact, 64 percent of consumers are more likely to buy from a brand they follow on Twitter, demonstrating we become more emotionally connected to the brands with which we are engaged.
For businesses that stay closely aligned with their customers, this provides a massive advantage. With the ubiquitous nature of social networking along with the high-touch capabilities most B2Bs have, the opportunities to stay close to customers and to build trust are tremendous.
The best thing is social vehicles provide an opportunity for companies to connect more frequently in less intrusive fashions, providing a win-win for the customer and the provider.
Back to Your Word of Mouth Strategy
The statistics alone make it pretty overwhelmingly clear that a business’ network is pivotal to its ongoing growth potential.
The trend toward doing our own research (see Chapter 2) and looking to our friends for guidance in purchase decisions are trends that are only going to continue to proliferate. Knowing our personal business activities are becoming more ubiquitous with our professional business activities makes this more evident than ever.
Businesses cannot ignore the importance of building a network. This includes the business being high-touch through low-touch mediums like social, email and other education opportunities.
It also is dependent on businesses having a strategy to maximize the networks of its employees. While there is much uncertainty about what an organization can ask for when it comes to its employees’ social media activities, there is absolutely nothing wrong with an organization asking its employees to engage their personal and professional networks in a way that is valuable to all parties involved.
Successful selling has always had a certain prerequisite of asking for a sale in order to earn it. The big change today is the asking is much less direct.
The positive is our reach to current and potential customers is better than ever and leveraging those relationships is one of the most important tactics in growing leads and converting business in the connected economy.
