Or do they just need help figuring out how to connect their scanner? Are they actively involved in your company’s online community, proffering solutions to newcomers or were their purchase was a one-off, the experience of which they have now used to bludgeon your organization with on Twitter?

Ideally, the number of customers you have greatly surpasses the size of your organization, so how your organization approaches and designs an integrated customer engagement has to be scalable yet targeted. The reason I used the term “integrated customer engagement” is that CI is a strong proponent of ejecting social out of the silo to inform and complement the rest of the enterprise. But how does an organization gain not only an understanding of their audience’s social network but know when and how to reach out to a customer or prospect?

Listen. Obviously, how you choose to filter your audience will highlight unique insights but segmenting consumers by either their expressed or implied interest in engagement is also critical.

Range of Social Relationships

Here’s my very scientific break-down from a customer perspective of their interest in being ‘friends’ with your organization:

• Don’t talk to me. Ever. I’m still recovering from our last encounter.
• I don’t want to be your friend but I do need answers. Where can I find them?
• I like you and I’ve clicked a button.
• I like you and love discounts. Let’s talk.
• I love you and I want to co-create.

It’s understanding that range of possible engagement types that makes social media analytics (Listening) such a critical foundation not only to your marketing efforts but to other areas within your organization. Not every customer wants to be BFF with your brand and that’s ok. Delighting that customer to the extent that they don’t express disappointment in the experience is almost a positive.  But identifying and filtering consumers and prospects for messaging and outreach that targets customers from passive “Like” to active “Co-Creation” allows you to tailor and scale your efforts. A robust audience segmentation, including demographic information, is the linchpin for creating outreach efforts, campaigns or even new products that align with the expectations of that particular consumer base.

One of the benefits of social media is that it can help reinforce existing ties and that is one way of looking at consumer relationship; the strength of that tie between the consumer and your brand. Analyzing and filtering for consumer insights or preferences is a critical piece for surfacing consumer intentions that can provide a unique perspective on the degree to which a consumer wants to be engaged.