Having a social media presence is one thing. Engaging the customer with you is another thing which means you are doing social media marketing. And then measuring the effectiveness and efficiency and Return on investment is the most difficult thing. Some companies have a presence on the web but either:
1. They do not monitor customer comments. Having a presence without replying to the comments or issues about the customer is of practically no value addition to the company. It just gives you a presence for name sake. No sales increase happens or brand awareness or brand equity increase results. It is better to not invest if you do not want to follow up on the web about the information about your company. You presence if not followed properly, the competition can use it against you. Thus it is better to not have a presence than give competition a chance to work against you.
2. They monitor but just externally. This is half baked attempt at being on the web. It will not give you any help but will act as a whirlpool to suck up money to sustain the presence.
3. They are quick to contact the commentator to ask for the grievance. This is one-on-one marketing attempt. It is very good any very few companies do it but it is preferred mode of communication for business to business customers since they are far and between.
4. They give a reply online itself
Out of these, the third and fourth option seems viable. The fourth option seems the best because when you reply online, it is for others to see. They know that the problem has been solved and that the company is very quick at it. When you call up the commentator to ask personally, it is good but others do not know about the solution. It can happen that the customer puts it up again on the website that his problem was solved and eulogize about the company but that is rarely done. Unless the person is a geek who is constantly online
