Social, mobile, SoMoLo, SoMoGlo, SoMoClo, social TV, click-to-call… as more and more communication channels begin to merge and meld, it becomes more and more difficult for brands to separate one from the other, especially in terms of customer engagement.
According to eMarketer, the number of mobile social network users in the United States will grow from 58.5% in 2012 to 79.1% by 2015, and nearly 70 million people will access Facebook from their phones each month this year, equaling 85.4% of the overall mobile social networking population. That share will rise to 87.4% by 2014.
Social and mobile’s meteoric rise and increasing convergence over the past decade are just part of an even more powerful combination of influences – social, mobile, cloud and information – coined by Gartner as the “Nexus of Forces” and now driving a wave of change in major business processes. As both social and mobile continue to advance in their use and applications, and wearable devices with social sharing come into increased play, the confluence and connecting current between these two “Generation C” channels of choice will become even more pronounced.
“People have come to expect and make use of presence and location services, contextual search results and spontaneous interaction with their social networks to enhance everyday experiences, notes a Gartner report discussing the Nexus of Forces, “and they spread those experiences across multiple devices, often at the same time.”
For customer service and engagement, what does this mean? Not just growing responsiveness on both channels, but consistency, and also the knowledge and ability to follow the customer journey across them, as well as other channels, in real-time.
Changing Course in 2014
In 2014, the course for driving customer engagement will only continue to become more complex. It’s not just about keeping the ship afloat and steering it in a fixed direction anymore; it’s about being able to change course as needed to deliver an impressive, personalized and memorable multi-channel customer experience, especially as channels continue to change and converge.
Perhaps never before have two major emerging customer service channels been so interdependent as social and mobile are. Both disruptive and widespread technologies in their own right, and combining with the cloud and big data, they are revolutionizing the way consumers communicate with each other and with businesses, organizations, and even government, in real-time.
