FBlog

When the Internet started, the World Wide Web was in its 1.0 stage. The network was a simple emitter providing content to its users. They were only able to receive that information, and had no ability to create any other content at all. The Internet and its users were two worlds apart, connected only vertically and unilaterally.

During the first years of the new millennium things began to change. Users started to interact not only with web content, but also between themselves. Today they are not merely passive information containers – they have also become emitters and content producers.

It is in this context is where social networks were born. They are websites especially designed for users to expose themselves to the world, sharing personal information, ideas, knowledge, hobbies, moments, anything they want. The users post the activities of their day on Facebook or Twitter with a certain frequency, look at the news of their friends on their “wall”, connect with new people and reconnect with people form their past. They also search for the information they want through social networks. We can say that now the users own the web. The power of content generation is highly valuable to the user, so they will not resign that power.

According to Facebook, they have now more than 800 million active users. Each user has an average of 130 friends, and is connected with about 80 community pages, groups and / or events. And on Twitter, while more than a billion tweets per week are published, there are more than 300 million users to read them.

Currently, in some industries, a brand does not exist unless it can be found on social networks. The user needs to interact with the brand, feel part of it, and have the brand on their friend list to really feel it’s a real part of their life. Also, the user is now interested in the brand and will use the social networks to find out more about it. It’s like “upside-down advertising”: the user is not overwhelmed with ads, because now they search on their own through the social networks looking for the brand to talk to, to make it part of their lives on a more personal level, to find out all of it’s news and to interact with it.

Even if this is for free and we don’t have to ask the user to become a “fan” of our brand, that doesn’t mean we can stop worrying. The image that a brand gives in social networks is really important. Remember the fact that what users like the most while maintaining a social network interaction is content sharing and bilateral communication. The brand will always be there for them, because that’s what is expected. But the brand is also exposed to all sorts of questions and complaints generated by the user, as social networks are a new kind of a customer service. Consumers expect an answer, a solution to their problems from the brand, and expect to have a real interaction with it, often in real-time. So brand owners should take care of the brand image in the world of 2.0 Web, its ability to respond to a question, its knowledge about products and services offered, etc.

The Community Manager who is assigned this role must be competent and friendly with the users, with a high capacity to respond. They must be dedicated enough to provide excellent customer service, and be knowledgeable on many aspects of the social networks they are using as well as the services and products offered by the company they represent.

If all of this is well managed, there are many advantages. On one hand, the image of the brand will be highly improved. Do not forget that “word of mouth” publicity is an excellent form of free advertising. On the other hand, interacting with the brand’s “fans” or “followers” will let you learn how they think, what they feel, how they want to be treated, what they need, what they want, what they wish, and how the brand can help them to achieve all of these things.

Many brands fear the use of social networks because of having to deal with complaints. They prefer not to be on social networks, or even worse, they are part of the social network but they don’t interact with users or answer their questions. This issue creates a very poor brand image. Instead, if you dare to engage and answer all queries properly, the image your brand will project will become more and more favorable. It is a worthwhile step to make which will allow you to gain access to valuable and extremely helpful information about your consumers.