Journal Entry – Customer and Client Relationships

Also look at the different types of customer relationships: bilateral -- high levels of beliefs (trust) and behavior (info sharing, adaptaion and flexibility); recurrent (less strong , partners focuses primarily on the practical/efficient relationship more than LT relationship building; dominant partner or discrete (low levels of both belief and behavior strength).

Does it matter how flexible/adaptive you are? In a nuclear supplier relationship, not valued near as much as quality design would be, yet in another field, say sports marketing, that quality valued a lot, and so change can enhance relationship.

How important is it to answer every crank comment? Are they trends, is your product the ‘emperor without clothes’ or are the sucks comments valid? How do you know your customer? What kind of relationship do you have with him/her? What are the expectations??? On both sides???

How handle social media where you see things pop up about your company such as “the Company XYZ sucks”. Impt to know your customers, to maintain effective relationships. Yet how strong is social media? Who’s listening? Is this your target market? If it’s tweeted and someone isn’t on, it’s gone. Yet if it’s on Twitter, it might also be on other avenues of social media which are more permanent.

Is Trust In Social Media Dying? Apr 6, 2010 at 9:23am ET by Jordan Kasteler http://searchengineland.com/is-trust-in-social-media-dying-39340

Social media has exploded in recent years in its use to gauge customers’ likes and dislikes and to identify consumer buying trends. Users have migrated from trusting traditional media for reviews, ratings, and recommendations to trusting what their peers have to say in social media. The new age of digital and social media is upon us, and apparently, already dying in some areas. New data shows consumers are rebelling against all the “noise.”

“Social networking used to be innocent, peer to peer conversation and now it’s turned into a marketing playground in which almost everything — blog space, tweets and, in some cases, opinion — is for sale,”

Possible causes of social distrust

While the root of the issue isn’t fully known, there is much speculation. One speculation is that Internet marketers are further and further infiltrating social media, and consumers are becoming more and more skeptical about the influences behind peer referrals.

Privacy concerns have also created skepticism over social media. Richard Edelman, CEO, in reference to privacy issues encountered with popular social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, stated:

“The events of the last 18 months have scarred people. People have to see messages in different places and from different people. That means experts as well as peers or company employees. It’s a more skeptical time.”

The recession has made consumers more skeptical and they now tend to turn to experts rather than acquaintances. In troubled times, such uncertainty is magnified. All of this explains the rise in the number of people willing to pay attention to sources like proven academics and experts.

In addition, fast growing networks of friends often include people of acquaintance rather than people truly known in real life. Combined with the sheer volume of recommendations being pushed, via friends and peers, each day dilutes the importance of each message.

Establishing credibility

For marketers, in order to repair the lack of trust, extra measures must be taken. Transparency and honesty are the key to establishing credibility with your audience. Couple that with good and credible content and messaging that people will feel comfortable sharing, and you have a recipe for a great foundation of credibility.

Once you have your audience on your side, remember to give back to the community and reciprocate however is appropriate.