The fast-paced world of information technology is filled with jargon, so it’s not surprising that a new “buzz” acronym, SMAC, has been coined. SMAC translates to Social Mobile Analytics Cloud and is a rapidly spreading methodology which can significantly improve your online marketing results.
SMAC Components
Social – Millions of individuals are “connected” via social media platforms such as Facebook, and the number just keeps climbing.
Mobile – Smartphones and other mobile devices are transforming the way consumers purchase goods and services, by enabling them to engage in transactions anywhere and at any time. Mobile technology provides users with greater convenience and can provide your business with an inside view of users’ buying preferences.
Analytics – Another “buzz phrase” currently in vogue is “Big Data.” This treasure trove of information collected from social and mobile platforms provides organizations with a way to gain detailed insights into their customers’ likes and dislikes.
Cloud – Cloud computing enables small and medium-sized companies to avoid significant financial outlays for premise-based hardware, telephone systems, and software.
The Stacking Effect
While each individual component of SMAC is a valuable tool all by itself, integrating them produces a “stack” with more total power than its individual parts. Working together, the four SMAC components can provide a broad-based view of customer spending and provide a way for companies to get more value out of their customer bases. For instance, the data provided by a user’s social media postings can be partnered with location-based information from the person’s mobile device. This combined data is then able to be analyzed in real time via a virtual cloud platform.
SMAC Helps Provide Personalized Service
One advantage of SMAC technology is that it enables companies to move into high-margin areas with relatively little expense. With low overheads, far-ranging availability, and global reach, it creates unprecedented opportunities for organizations to more thoroughly understand, influence, and engage their target customers. Because today’s consumers don’t have much brand loyalty, they will spend more time looking at product reviews and other information before deciding what to buy. By setting up individualized marketing and sales strategies, a company can significantly increase its profitability. Personalized service means a satisfied customer.
How To Best Utilize SMAC
The basic question is how can this desired multiplier effect be achieved? Here are some ideas:
Come up with a plan: Examine where you currently stand with respect to leveraging the use of the SMAC components. Then, prioritize where you want to deliver products or services tailored to your customer base.
Don’t ignore the “easy” data: Make sure that each method you use to gather insights about your customers is working well and put it to use. For example, your customer interface should be straightforward and easy to use so that a new customer experiences no difficulties in signing up. Then, your system should be designed so that the data follows the customer – if a customer has completed an application for one kind of product or service, the individual should not then have to enter duplicate information for another.
Examine your customer service: Ascertain what kinds of end-to-end services can make your customers’ experiences as easy as possible. For example, an integrated SMAC approach would enable a customer experiencing problems to contact a call center, where the customer services representative should be able to see exactly the stage that the customer has reached and help move the transaction along.
Don’t just be content with the norm: It should be a continuous process to develop products, services, and experiences based on insights gained from your customers’ preferences. Teams should be set up to evaluate your program, and you could even hire a specialist whose task would be to find best practices used by other organizations.
Bottom Line
The effects of SMAC are especially dramatic for small to medium-sized companies. Such organizations now have a way to understand and reach their target buyers on a world scale. In fact, a level playing field is now in place whereby small organizations can access the same buyer behavior information as much larger companies. Talk to us to find out how we can help you improve your on-line marketing strategy.
