Here are the different ways in which most companies and corporate entities – big or small – can benefit from social media when it comes to grasping the mindset of their prospective customers. It is pertinent to listen to them and understand what they want. This holds the key for your business to survive and to thrive in today’s highly competitive world.

Grasping the customer’s mindset

Irrespective of what you may think is right, customers will always have their own perceptions and ideas that you may not necessarily be aware of always.  So grasping their mind indeed holds the key to building quality products and user friendly services.

When a researchers’ team at Xerox, for example, built a new commercial printer, it felt that the product was faultless. The notion was on basis of a fixed idea of what they probably wanted. However, after getting the initial feedback, they realized that the product was not designed to their complete satisfaction. This they could follow only after listening to the prospective customers. Such interactions are made possible by the all-pervasive social media. This is where it comes into play.

Increased interaction and a better insight

The social media provides the answers to the following critical issues:

• What do your customers really like or do not like about a specific product?
• Are they seeking any particular improvement in your existing product line or service funnel?
• How receptive will they generally be to any new launch?

In essence, the social media helps a company evaluate its offerings through the customers’ lens. Of course, it is equally essential to carefully align the product development process and marketing efforts with their precise needs or else the whole exercise won’t serve any purpose and would prove to be utterly meaningless.

Identify new business opportunities

Once a business carefully follows its prospects’ ideas, it can develop a better insight, which in itself a good learning experience for marketers. The social media interactions are equally beneficial in the longer run as they help businesses identify exciting new opportunities.

Becoming customer-centric may well mean considering an existing business model from a neutral ‘outside-in’ view instead of opting for the inside out mode. This is made possible by social media conversations that lead to identifying lucrative business opportunities. The entire process revolves around understanding the peculiar problems users tend to face and devising effective solutions to solve them.

To make this possible, your sales & marketing channels should be aware of the ground realities and know what your customers exactly need so as to fill the gap between demand-supply equation. A business can do so either by modifying existing products/services or by launching a new suite of products. The digital media has made it possible to tap such exciting opportunities. In essence, social networks help owners understand and serve their customers better…