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Social media are useful tool
REA Vaya met its colleagues at the Gautrain to look at the use and potential pitfalls of social media in communicating with customers.
Nomalizo Xabana from Rea Vaya says social media are great platforms for creating awareness
Rea Vaya and Gautrain were there to shed light on the importance of social media, how to use the platform and maximising this use. The two companies, who met on Friday, 6 July, shared their experiences of social media use and how it had transformed their organisations.
Nomalizo Xabana, Rea Vaya’s senior marketing and public liaison officer, said social media were great platforms for sharing and creating awareness among users. “Social media allow business to interact directly with customers on a daily basis on a more personal level. They enable businesses to engage with their customers, to promote, to ask for feedback, reply to problems and challenge them,” she said.
Craig Dean, Gautrain’s online digital communication specialist
Social media are internet-based applications that allow users to create and exchange information. Included are web-based and mobile-based technologies that are used to turn communication into interactive dialogue among organisations, communities and individuals.
Craig Dean, Gautrain’s online digital communication specialist, said social media had many platforms that could be used. “Social media is important in our strategy to communicate disruptions such as cable thefts and strikes,” said Dean adding that social media also enabled the company to monitor the value of conversations.
“We have a good sense of people’s experiences with Gautrain and it gives us an idea of where we are going,” he said, but he pointed out that social media needed to be integrated with a traditional media strategy for those who did not have access to the internet.
Knowing the dangers of social media, and how to correct them, was helpful in avoiding miscommunication through these platforms, said Dean. “Social media is a powerful tool, and like any tool, you’ve got to know how to use it, how to make the most of it and what the dangers of it are.”
Because more and more people were turning to social media for their news since updates were posted constantly and instantaneously, putting out the correct information was vital.
Commonalities
The commonalities that were raised by both companies at the meeting included their reliance on social media to spread the news regarding their services.“There is no better way or an even cheaper way than a social media channel when it comes to announcing new services for your company,” said Xabana.
They agreed that the social media aided in making customer engagement possible adding that it helped them provide feedback that they used as basis for improvement.
Another importance of social media mentioned was the fact that it allowed them to discover their customer’s preferences enabling to act based on what they want.
Social media have exploded in popularity worldwide, with a significant portion of populations making use of social sites such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+.
Intergration
The integration of Rea Vaya with the Gautrain last month at Park station in downtown Joburg has made it easier for passengers to transfer to their destinations more quickly with less hassle.They can now catch the Gautrain from Pretoria, Sandton and Rosebank stations to Park station and then a Rea Vaya bus to the CBD, Braamfontein, Ellis Park and Soweto.
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