There is enough material written on the social media.So I will not add some more gyan but I have decided to share my experience of being on social media as a consumer or simply an internet user.
I recently bought a blackberry and was still struggling to use this device when I encountered some issue regarding some function.I was looking for help when I decided to write to @BlackBerryHelp on twitter.I was anticipating that the reply may come in some few days when to my pleasant surprise their solution was sent through direct message in some few hours! Quite prompt considering that I must have been some zillionth customer who must have asked for help.Mind you I have asked more questions after that at different times and the timeliness of their reply has always been the same.Prompt.
Another incident I encountered was with @TeasAtGirnar, I was having tea at The Tea Centre at Chruchgate, Mumbai and I happen to tweet this, within minutes I get a mention and I find Girnar Tea tweeting me and asking me the tea I was sipping and my favorite flavor. They also sent me a tweet encouraging me to visit their e-store.Perfect consumer engagement without irritating the consumer off with some personal selling talk! and to think of it I could have chosen not to reply.
The above were examples of companies approaching and helping their consumers.
I have also experienced the beauty of social media when a complete stranger replied to my tweets on a simple inquiry.I was travelling on the highway from Santa Cruz when I saw ahead a massive traffic jam.I tweeted the same wondering the reason for the jam, within seconds I get a reply from some stranger that there was some vehicle problem and so the jam!
Even now and then I receive mentions on topics I tweet about or re-tweet where some person has shared some more knowledge or a page on the same issue.
This kind of interaction only says that given an opportunity you can get in touch with the consumers and the target audience without being pushy and give that space to the consumer to take a call on whether they want to interact with you or not.
Consumers are watching your interaction with them, whether you are solving their problems, offering tips, or inviting their contribution on a topic etc.They observe you and decide a lot about you whether you are worth being given a second look or not!
If it is not promotion or public relations from a company or an individual; it is simply a good human helping on the digital space,but magic of the social media still remains.
