Over the past decade, various social media platforms have forged new pathways for customers to communicate directly with businesses. This fundamental shift in consumer behavior has caused interactive forums to become a preferred method for people seeking timely customer service and for businesses looking for important consumer feedback.
Media-savvy businesses increasingly rely on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google Plus – with their millions of loyal users – for the foundation of their customer-communications strategies. Even small businesses have joined in, and are dedicating significant resources to build and maintain a social media presence.
Many consumers exclusively use online interaction rather than more traditional lines of communication, such as phone calls or e-mails. By using a robust broadband connection, both businesses and consumers can employ social media as a convenient and easy-to-use, two-way service channel.
A 2014 survey of 1,000 consumers nationwide conducted by Accent Marketing showed that Facebook, not surprisingly, was the choice of 82 percent of social media users when requesting information or service from a company. Twitter was the runner-up with 30 percent of users preferring a platform of short, pithy word snippets for interacting with businesses.
Companies like Frontier Communications have a strong presence on social media, which allows them to promote their services, monitor what is being said about their brand and more quickly resolve customer issues. As long as you have a strong Internet connection, social platforms are an easy and efficient way of communicating with businesses.
Other significant findings from the Accent survey:
- Almost one third of consumers with a customer-service inquiry prefer to contact companies through their social media pages instead of emails or calls to toll-free numbers
- 47 percent of consumers cite Facebook as the fastest, most-effective social media avenue for solving a customer-service issue
- 72 percent of consumers overall only want to interact with a business through comments on social media channels
- Two thirds of consumers use Facebook to find discounts and promotions (80 percent of Baby Boomers)
- More men (34 percent) than women (25 percent) use Twitter as their social media platform of choice to interact with a company with which they conduct business
- 75 percent of Millennials and 55 percent of Baby Boomers find posted comments on a business social media site from other customers or followers to be helpful
Consumers who use Pinterest – more than 47 million currently are enrolled – may find more opportunities to interact with their favorite businesses in the near future.
Businesses recognize that Pinterest users’ focus on favorite “things” and how their stated preferences for those things can link to products, e-commerce sales and local businesses. In fact, a market research survey showed a higher percentage of Pinterest users clicking through to browse e-commerce sites than users of Facebook and Twitter.
While most consumers have not totally abandoned traditional means to reach businesses, it’s clear they are relying more heavily on social media as an important channel. With your Frontier High-Speed Internet service, customer-business connections through social media are just a quick click away.
