How the Voice of the Customer Drives Social Media Strategy

What is a paper manufacturer doing on Twitter?

Mashable recently took a look at Neenah Paper, a high-end paper manufacturer headquartered in Georgia. Neenah found its traditional sales methods, which focused on establishing in-person meetings, were becoming less effective in driving organic growth.

Today Neenah empowers its sales team to directly engage the customer on Twitter and created a free iPhone app that highlights its products and services. And since online actions (i.e., a Twitter conversation with a prospect or app download on iTunes) are instantly trackable, Neenah's sales process becomes data-driven, accountable, and repeatable. In other words, understanding the customers' changing behaviors revolutionized their organic growth strategy.

The Voice of Neenah Paper's Customer

The Neenah case study reminds us of an important component of the organic growth framework. It is absolutely critical to understand the voice of the customer. Neenah Paper set out to understand how the behavior of its customers had changed. They found customers had precious little time for in-person meetings, but were spending more time online and exposing themselves to social media. This knowledge transformed their sales process and led to improved awareness and growth.

Do you have relevant, up-to-date knowledge about your customers and their behaviors? Have you thought about how social media can become a driver for brand awareness and organic growth? Leave a comment or contact us.