Commentary

C-Suiters Look To Social Media For Customer Engagement

C-suiters are increasingly using social media to interact with consumers, according to a new report from Deloitte ("2021 Global Marketing Trends”).

Sixty-seven percent of C-suite respondents said they increased their presence on social media to better engage with customers during the pandemic.

The report says the uptick is part of a burgeoning movement by marketers to leverage their social channels to “more broadly and dynamically interact with customers through social CRM.”

Chinese companies have been leading the charge. “For many companies based in the Western hemisphere, this trend is just beginning to take form, with many refining their social strategies within their Chinese markets,” the report notes.

For example, B2B company Sany Heavy Industry now uses social messaging platforms not only to highlight the machinery in its catalog, but also to provide interested parties a simple way of scheduling a meeting with a sales representative.

Although marketers have long been using social platforms to message content through influencers, the report notes, “some are now doing it at a more microlevel by creating virtual KOLs [key opinion leaders].”

China-based cosmetics company Perfect Diary, for example, developed virtual influencer “Xiao Wanzi” to offer her followers advice on its products and share tutorials on usage. “Perfect Diary developed the virtual persona … to interact with consumers and help set trends in the marketplace.”

China, in fact, “has been ahead of the curve in pioneering the use of social media for customer engagement,” per the report, which you can access in full here.

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