Skeptics have waited for the fuss over social media to fade away but instead, social media continues to thrive with continuous improvements and innovations.

Guess who else needs to embrace to dynamics of these changes? You guessed right, the logistics sector.

People’s lives now revolve more around social media than anything else. Traditional supply chains have been replaced by social supply chains.

One thing that logistics companies need to understand is that the internet has leveled the ground for giant companies as well as startups.

Ultimately the client wants a company that meets their needs faster, cheaper and locally.

The bad news is that there is more competition in the industry.

The great news is you can use social media to your benefit to give your business an edge over the competition.

The key word is “engagement”; making the client a part of the process.

This will both improve your brand and help you cut costs in the following ways:

Reduce response time

John has a bone to pick with your company.

He tweets about a delayed delivery and tags your company‘s twitter handle. John’s followers engage by sharing similar or different experiences or inquire about the details that led to the delay.

At this point you (the company) should offer an explanation and share how John’s grievances will be addressed.

John and his followers will see you as a responsive company and you will win over new clients as well.

Social media is a tool for a company to change notions about their brand and even improve their image as a whole.

Reduce research costs

Twitter’s QnA tool is just one example of how companies can get in touch with client’s needs and learn how best to meet them.

If the company is going out on a limb with a new idea they hope will improve how business is done, the best way to test its effectiveness is to request customers to share their experiences of the service.

If it has gone horribly wrong, you can curtail it and find another way to skin the cat. This brings me to my next point.

Clients tailored solutions

Have a problem that you seem to find a solution to, do not fret, and engage your clients.

Granted you will get overwhelming feedback that may take long to maneuver but this will give you the different segments of your clients and allow you to customize solutions for your different clients.

You increase your engagement and at the same time find solutions to challenges faced by the clients.

Through this you might even discover problems that were unknown to you.

Linear to virtual office

Forget the old supply chain that worked like separated cogs, today the social supply works in sync with resellers, wholesalers, manufacturers and suppliers.

As opposed to having to physically meeting all the stakeholders, social media provides a virtual table where solutions and ideas can be shared which leads back to saving time, hence saving costs.

This also creates transparency and increases credibility for your company.

See social media could be the best thing that happened to your business.

While the temptation is to have a dormant LinkedIn account that you refer to when you go for meetings, find where the segments of your clients that we talked about are and engage them, you will be surprised by the insights it will provide.