Despite the rapid proliferation of social media, or perhaps because of it, there still appears to be much confusion about just what brands should be doing on it.  I was interviewed recently for the recent edition of Professional Manager magazine, where I argued the case that social media was a force for good in the workplace.  That such a piece was even required suggests there are still many that sit in the folly camp when it comes to social media.  Another piece in EN for Entrepreneurs magazine looked at the role of social media in crisis situations, suggesting many still have a fear about the potential downsides to using social media.

Sadly those that are more enthusiastic do little better.  I wrote a few pieces recently revealing the poor engagement many brands have when they're using social media.  One report even went as far as to say that these returns are perfectly ok, and that social media should sit squarely alongside other broadcast mediums where quantity of audience is much more important than quality of engagement with that audience.

Suffice to say I tend to be a strong advocate for social media, and indeed wrote a piece for Social Business News recently (it's due to go live on Wednesday) suggesting that companies should be building a customer ecosystem that brings customers inside the company, co-creating products together.

Alas of course that kind of concept is at the moment only for the bold.  What should be possible for all companies however is to use social media as a customer service tool, and that's what I'd like to focus this post on.

Using social media for customer service

We should remember here the 'social' part of social media.  People don't generally go to Facebook and Twitter to buy things, they typically go to either socialise with friends or find information.  This contributes to the massive failure of those hellbent on marketing the heck out of social media to make any real inroads.  To a large extent, social media would almost be better off if marketing was banned from setting foot on social media, for it seems few are able to resist the temptation to drop links here, there and everywhere.

This isn't to say that people don't want to interact with brands on social media, merely that most times, when they do want to interact it's to ask a question or get their problem solved.  When that is the motivation social media provides a fantastic platform upon which to get that answer, be it from the company themselves or from a fellow customer.

So in a time when so many community efforts fail for a lack of purpose, here is a simple one.  Use your social media activities to provide support and assistance to your customers.  Don't try to sell to them, don't try to get them buying other products you offer, merely help them with their questions.  From this simple beginning you can start to build your customer eco-system, from which you can get other customers helping each other out, from which you can start co-creating your next generation of products with them.  Just please don't think of it as yet another broadcast medium.