Businesses see social marketing as a powerful and effective tool to gather valuable information, strengthen customer relationships and build competitive advantage. From a “one to many” mass marketing, whose essence was to offer products to all customers without identifying the target. This approach worked without adapting the message, managers are moving more towards “one to one” marketing as encouraged by a Social Media Marketing Agency.

In terms of communication and promotion, viral marketing seems to be the most appropriate technique for more connected customers. Indeed, the comments or opinions (positive or negative) of customers left on social networks can have more or less significant consequences. According to a recent study, 78% of Internet users say they trust the recommendations of their peers on social networks and say they are influenced by their opinions.

This explains why companies are more concerned about their online reputation.

How has digital impacted the customer relationship?

The marketing approach that aims to acquire a customer by turning the potential into a prospect and then customer is outdated. Today, we are dealing with a customer who, often before moving into the buying phase, becomes an assessor of the brand and can also become an ambassador of the company.

It is this notion of brand ambassador that explains the development of inbound marketing, which refers to the principle according to which a company seeks that its prospects or customers address themselves naturally or spontaneously.

They achieve this by delivering useful information or services through a relationship marketing policy. Companies also want more to ensure a co-construction of the offer with the customer. This idea of co-construction and collaboration is so strong that some people talk about new technologies of information, communication and cooperation.

This new approach to customer relationship management (Social-CRM) based on interaction-collaboration requires an organization with less hierarchy to facilitate responsiveness, when the client makes a request.

How can the company respond to the new challenges of customer relations in the digital age?

In the age of ATAWADAC (Any Time, Anywhere, Any Device, Any Content) behaviors, market leaders and managers, including Social Media Marketing Agency are led to integrate digital into their strategy. The first step may be to adopt devices for tracking and tracing the activity of customers and prospects on the web (social networks, blogs and forums).

The company must integrate the web into its business intelligence to anticipate changes. It is also called upon to maintain an irreproachable image on the Web and to deal with customer dissatisfaction quickly. This requires less formal, more spontaneous and non-linear interactions between the company and the customer. Finally, the presence of it on the Internet through a good content strategy and good lead management (contacts, prospects) is often the key to effective digital marketing.