Providing Customer Service by use of Social Media Channels (best practices)

Seminar paper from the year 2010 in the subject Business economics - Business Management, Corporate Governance, grade: 1,3, University of applied sciences, Marl, language: English, abstract: 1 Introduction1.1 Problem DefinitionThe relevance of web 2.0 will increase enormously until 2012. This view isshared by 83 % of the 110 companies that were interviewed within the scope ofa study carried out by the agency creative360 in cooperation with the InternationalSchool of Management.Considering the economic circumstances companies face with respect to thebuyer's market more and more effort has to be made to maintain competitiveness.Supply exceeds demand, thus forcing companies to extend their marketingactivities in order to receive the consumer's attention for both itself and itsproducts on the one hand. On the other hand, adequate customer service hasto be provided, which is inevitable for obtaining customer loyalty.Especially in the field of marketing, traditional techniques of advertising seem tohave lost importance. According to the survey of the Monitor Economic Communicationin 2010 television is solely used by 20 %, whereas print media isalso used by only 60 % of the respondents.Actually, these are considered as mass advertising, appearing rather annoyingto the consumers, likewise referred to as interruption marketing.In addition, call centers or email support as point of contact in case of problemsare regarded as insufficiently available and requiring long hold time.Due to the rapid progress of the internet a new communication platform hasbeen spooned - social media, the web 2.0. While there were 45 million of internetusers in 1997, the number is predicted to exceed 2 billion until the end ofthe year 2010. Accordingly, what does social media explicitly mean, how can itbe used and which benefit can be generated?1.2 ObjectivesThis seminar paper aims at giving an insight into the wide spectrum of socialmedia, proposing to demonstrate its remarkable influence these