On 4th October 2016, Econocom, Sia Partners and Ifop published the second edition of the barometer of digital practices, a unique, large-scale survey based on interviews with over 400 decision-makers from more than 329 large French companies. The survey includes detailed information on how large organisations use the social networks: which ones do they use? How do they use their client communities? We found the answers to this and much more.
83% of large companies are on social media
Is this the age of “network first?” In 2016, companies were more present on the social networks (83% vs. 75% in 2015). In the lead is the inevitable Facebook, which is used by 68% of companies (compared with 57% in 2015), followed by Twitter (59%) and LinkedIn (57%).
Some organisations, such as Axa, are particularly social-media savvy: in May 2016, the insurance group announced that its younger clients could now contact their insurance agent via Messenger, Facebook’s instant messaging service. “Our philosophy is to keep up with our clients,” explains Thomas Rudelle, Head of Social Networks for AXA. “It’s seemed logical to be one of the first companies to invest in a new environment like Facebook Messenger to talk to prospects and clients looking for information on AXA France’s products and services.”
-> Also on our blog: Chat to your insurance company on Facebook Messenger? That’s what Axa’s clients do
client communities still under-utilised
Four out of ten companies have a client community, most of which were created at the company’s instigation. Telecoms/media are traditionally the industries most likely to set up client communities (47%), whilst half of engineering and consulting firms have them.
Yet these communities are as yet underutilised by companies: 14% of organisations don’t follow what their customers say about them, whilst 31% don’t ask them for feedback.
In June 2016, Héloïse Beldico-Pachot, Director of Digital Customer Experience at Banque Postale, shared her secrets on how to improve the customer experience.
She pays particular attention to the comments posted on the social networks “in order to focus on clients and address their needs.”
-> Also on our blog: Heloise-Beldico-Pachot: how Banque Postale is improving the customer experience
At Pernod Ricard, meanwhile, Digital Acceleration Director Antonia McCahon told us how reading what people say on social media can yield valuable insights such as whether a particular product is used more in one particular area of Paris in a particular month than another, which allows Pernod-Ricard to organise their sales forces accordingly: “The transition to the social networks was quite slow at the beginning but then it happened naturally, precisely because we have this culture of sociability and friendliness that you associate with the social networks.”
-> Also on our blog: Antonia McCahon, CDO for Pernod-Ricard: digital is a part of everything we do
Using client communities can enable companies to detect dissatisfaction and get a better idea of needs and expectations in order to make improvements and offer an optimal customer experience. Companies that are lagging behind where digital and social media are concerned therefore need to interact more with online communities so they can offer customers a better, more personalised experience.