Companies employ external IT support companies because it is not economical to run an IT department in-house. That said an effective support company should resemble an in-house employee in terms of its
- Speed of response – availability
- Investment in the company’s future – providing advice on IT developments that will improve processes, reduce costs and increase income
How can social media facilitate the IT support company’s role as a quasi-employee of all its clients?
1. Speed of response – availability
When I have an IT problem I can’t solve I want IT support immediately, and if I can’t get it immediately I want to know exactly how long I will have to wait and what I might try in the meantime!
Through social media IT support can provide links to the following on their contact page
- Twitter updates on support call traffic and waiting time.
- Twitter alerts on current viruses and telecommunication hardware issues to beware
- Blog posts providing details on current viruses and telecommunication hardware issues
- Categories of blog posts providing step by step instructions on solving common/recurring problems – using text, slides and/or YouTube.*
2. Investment in the company’s future – providing advice on IT developments that will improve processes, reduce costs and increase income
While every company has unique IT support needs but industries/sectors will have IT support needs in common. The set up of social media platforms should reflect the division of industries/sectors
- Dedicated Twitter accounts for different industries/sectors alerting followers to updates to existing or development of new solutions
- Blog with post categories covering all industries/sectors served and solution types e.g. accounting, logistics. Industry/sector categories should be listed as navigation menu items.
Auxiliary to Twitter accounts and the blog I would recommend the set up of a…
- Facebook Page – company Facebook page with up to date profile
- Company LinkedIn Page with up to date profile including info on services
- Company YouTube Channel
For more on a basic social media mix go here
Content for social media should include
- Properly categorised blog posts on IT solutions relevant to specific industries/sectors targeted at existing and potential clients
- Blog posts on general rules of buying IT solutions, alerting readers on where to start, explaining the steps to determining needs.
- YouTube testimonials from clients on IT solutions provided by your company and their benefits. These clips be embedded in blog posts categorised by industry/sector and solution type
- set up slide shows/YouTube/Vimeo videos on make-up of typical solutions required by different types of business
- Blog reports on projects from their beginning through to completion
- Cheat sheet and troubleshooter blog posts detailing the most common problems and fixes
- Posts on software features clients have in their solution package but are not taking advantage of, preferring to keep to what they know – link this kind of post to training pages on website
- Post videos/reports on training sessions
- Post evidence of time and money saved through the take up of your IT solutions – real world examples from across the range of industries and sectors
Social media management
You will notice the content ideas listed are almost all for blog posts. This is because the blog can usefully serve as a centre of social media where the bulk of information is provided.
Every blog post can be further promoted/disseminated via Twitter, Facebook Page and LinkedIn using Hootsuite which enables the update of several social media platforms from one window. Setting up streams on Hootsuite to you Twitter accounts, LinkedIn page and Facebook Page you can alert readers/viewers to each update on the blog on all or some of the streams as appropriate.
Posting updates via Hootsuite on your LinkedIn will be visible to your ‘connections . To make a greater impact you should also join groups on LinkedIn dedicated to industries and sectors for which you provide or would like to provide IT support. Strategically post discussions to these groups relating to and linked to your blog posts
Hootsuite dashboard is a personal favourite though you may prefer to use an alternative, some of which I review here.I have made some suggestions on how social media may be used by IT support companies. If you have any comments I would be glad to hear them below.
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