Eric Salas, Director, Product Marketing

Earlier today, Facebook announced their $1 billion acquisition of Instagram, and last week Pinterest skyrocketed to become the third-largest social network behind Facebook and Twitter. When you consider how quickly the social media landscape can shift, you also have to wonder how companies can keep up with all the new and different ways customers want to interact with their brands–not to mention the sheer volume of interactions that could potentially be generated by them. Are customers going to be “pinning” a photo to initiate a service request any time soon? Perhaps they already are in some cases. But no matter what the latest trend might be, it’s clear that companies have to be better prepared to engage with customers wherever they choose to be.

One of the reasons to choose a cloud-based, multichannel technology platform in your contact center is to ensure that you are better prepared for the ever-shifting social landscape. At LiveOps, we’re seeing more companies utilize our cloud contact center platform to enable their contact centers to engage more effectively with customers in social media, and work more closely with their marketing teams to deliver a better customer experience in social channels. And, by leveraging a social-enabled cloud platform, enterprises can deliver customer service more quickly in new channels. Look for another post in a few weeks from Keith McFarlane, Chief Architect, that will go into more detail about how Serenova contact center technology can help you meet the challenges of the new social media landscape.

In the meantime, here are a few more “must-reads” from the past week on social customer service:

Pinterest Is Now the Third Most Popular Social Network in the U.S.

socialtimes.com4/6/12

Marketing wants to own ‘Social Engagement?’ Think again.

blogs.gartner.com4/9/12

Not All Fun and Games: One Call Center’s Social Media Today

socialmediatoday.com4/4/12