Most companies today have some form of social media presence (i.e. a Facebook page, Twitter feed or a LinkedIn page). The primary purpose of these tools for business is to be able to engage the customer or prospect in their trusted and engaging environment and to go where the customers are, as opposed to trying to pull them toward a static message.
This is a vital strategy in today’s socially driven society; however, when it comes to interviewing potential employees, social media skills are not high on the list of things employers look for. In fact, just seven percent of managers view social media skills as being the most important when evaluating an employee’s performance, according to a new study conducted by Fast Company and American Express. Meanwhile, 16 percent found it to be “important” or “very important.”
This is in direct contrast to the 61 percent who felt the same about soft skills (such as project management) and 32 percent for hard skills (such as search engine optimization or HTML coding).
Call center software can help. Today’s all-in-one contact center solutions allow agents to seamlessly interact across multiple channels, providing customers with the flexibility they need in their busy lifestyles.
Using an all-in-one call center software solution, agents can engage customers through phone, online chat, SMS, video, social media and so much more. These omni-channel solutions will automatically capture, route, manage, integrate, orchestrate and report on inbound and outbound customer interactions regardless of the channel.
With more than one billion Facebook users, 200 million LinkedIn participants and 77 percent of Fortune 100 companies using Twitter, execs and decision makers should focus more acutely on developing employee social skills. Providing training to increase employees’ social expertise provides clear business benefits.
By embracing social media through call center software, companies will be able to efficiently and effectively rise above the clutter to increase customer satisfaction driving higher lifetime value.