August 27, 2019, 12:30 a.m. • Social|Social~Twitter
Social media is a gamechanger. It has completely transformed the dynamic between commerce and consumer, creating a direct line of communication and a public forum for discussion. Instead of having a one-way conversation, companies now enter the marketplace to find that there’s already an audience waiting for them, ready to talk about their products and services, and offer immediate feedback. Today, if you’re not engaged and interacting with what’s being said online, you’re missing out on a big opportunity to connect with and learn from this audience.
There are more than 3.4 billion active social media users in the world – that’s roughly 45% of the global population. It’s not just a once-a-day check-in, either. Users typically get online several times throughout the day to see what’s going on and use multiple platforms to exchange ideas and gather as much information as possible. Your business needs to be able to meet this ongoing demand, pay attention to what’s happening and, most importantly, take part in the dialogue. So how do we do that?
MoneyGram’s business model provides the perfect blueprint for online engagement. Our omnichannel services are used by more than two billion customers around the globe. We provide these customers with several different ways to interact with us and our products so that they can conveniently send money and connect with loved ones abroad. The needs of people in each of the 200 countries and territories that we serve are a little (or a lot) different, so it’s important that we offer them variety. The same can be said of any social media plan – diversity is key and the more platforms you have to connect with your customers, the better.
But what do you talk about? And how do you start up a conversation with your audience? Do you offer something unique that no one else has? Is there anything you’d like your customers to know about you?
For MoneyGram, it’s about providing a superior customer experience for each of our customers, no matter where or how they transact with us. We use our social communities to share information about our innovative products and services to ensure all customers can find what they need. But we do more than tell, we also listen. Customer feedback and opinions about our business are critical for continually developing our offerings to provide the best experience. Inviting customers to share their pain points can be scary, but how can you fix something if you don’t know what’s broken?
We also use our social media channels to educate our customers about how to use money transfer safely, and that starts with our world-class compliance. MoneyGram leads the industry in keeping customers safe. Each month, we prevent tens of millions of dollars of suspected fraud activity through system monitoring and fraud prevention. In fact, we’ve taken a leadership position in consumer fraud education by founding ScamAwareness.org. This nonprofit organization serves as an educational tool for our customers by providing them with information on how they can protect themselves and their financial well-being. By bringing this important information directly to our customers, in a place where they already are, we can engage with them to deliver a better customer experience.
And that’s what it’s all about – making a difference for our customers. They are at the center of everything we do, and we want to make sure we create real value for them. That means keeping a finger on the pulse of what they are thinking and feeling and delivering quality interactions that not only meet their expectations but exceed them. When done right, our engagement on social media provides us with the perfect opportunity to demonstrate this customer commitment, build trust and form exceptional, long-term relationships that last.
