In the first of a series of guest blogs on Insightlive, Neil Roberts, Account Director of Purplex Marketing discusses his views on social networks and how they present companies in the window industry with a valuable opportunity to discover what their customers really think.

Once solely used by teenagers and students to chat and organise their social lives, social networks and social media are increasingly being used in a business context.

The window industry is no exception. Glass Talk recently been launched to provide industry figures with somewhere to discuss and stay up to date with the latest issues, while blogs such as the ‘Renegade Conservatory Guy’  keeps us entertained with industry related gossip. Meanwhile systems companies, fabricators and industry magazines continue to set up Twitter accounts in order to communicate better with prospects and existing customers (why not follow Insight Data at www.twitter.com/insightdata)

By using social media, marketers in the window industry are able to gain a valuable insight into what their customers are thinking and get feedback they can apply to their business. The problem is, social networks are unregulated places that move at an incredible pace. This has led to some companies burying their heads in the sand with a policy of not getting involved – but is this the right approach?

No matter how big or small your company is, the likelihood is that somebody, somewhere is saying something about you online through either a blog, Twitter or on another social network. Would you rather pretend this isn’t happening or would you like to set the agenda and position your brand correctly in the mind of this user group?

f you don’t use social networking you’re maybe missing a valuable opportunity to discover what your customers really think. By engaging in social media, you have the ability to improve people’s perception of your brand and influence their behavior.

As most of us already know, quite often it’s the unhappy customer who will be the most vocal and they will often use online forums to vent their frustrations. Rather than ignoring these people, we should use social media to find out what the customers issues are and address them immediately. Often the best approach with those complaining online is to drive the conversation offline. This has two positive effects – the conversation will not remain on Google forever and people are often more reasonable when speaking to a “real” person.

In contrast, those who are vocal about our businesses in a positive way offer one of the best opportunities we have as marketeers. By nurturing advocates we can improve brand image and drive more traffic and conversations to our websites. This comes down to peer-to-peer recommendation.

Social networks can and do drive the bottom line – we just don’t always see the connection because its impossible to fully understand what motivates our customers purchases. Very often the deciding factor is what a customer has seen online which has swayed them to your services.

Setting up a Twitter account isn’t too difficult. It shouldn’t take more than a few minutes to do and if you get stuck you are bound to know someone who can do it for you. If you haven’t got time to blog and tweet you can buy in the resources by appointing a suitably experienced external agency. Many “new age” PR agencies include social network monitoring as part of their services.

But a word of warning before you do engage in social media – make sure your website is polished and up-to-date. Social media should be used to drive traffic to your website – where the bulk of your company information will be located – and if this isn’t up to date your blogging and tweeting efforts will be wasted.

In conclusion, I believe social media presents companies in the window industry with a valuable route to market and while the benefits may not be entirely obvious, you cant afford to ignore it.

 If you would like to discuss your online marketing with Neil, please call 01934 808 132 or visit www.purplexmarketing.com