Who is the Social Customer?

§ The social customer is engaged, consuming information in real time, learning about breaking news through Twitter and Facebook , favoring her personal feeds which she has curated and surfaced as important information.

§ The social customer learns about new products and brands through social channels and trusts her social network to provide honest feedback about it, as opposed to a brand’s one-way message of persuasion.

§ The social customer is smart, no longer responding to unsolicited SPAM in her social networks or overly promotional tweets, but is open to relevant information that meets her needs at that particular moment.

§ The social customer expects brands to be present and active in the same social venues where she hangs out, listening to her feedback, whether it’s negative or positive.

§ The social customer expects you to listen and engage with her, not only when it coincides with an e-mail blast or new feature release, but rather when she needs you. And you better respond fast, in real-time, or she will either move on to a competitor, or tell her friends about her bad experiences.

§ Because the social customer can talk to a brand through many channels at the same time, she expects everyone she talks to from your company to have the same background on her issue. For example, if I complain about an experience on Twitter, I want the representative who engages me there to know my relationship with the brand, and can easily view the history of interactions I have had.

Bottom line: The social customer owns the relationship, and you need to earn her trust and respect.