In the context of the omnichannel mix, social media is at the epicenter of innovation. Not only does it have incredible capabilities for listening and publishing, but it’s also the nucleus for modern direct-response advertising for demand gen.

Now with emerging products like Facebook Messenger, social is set to continue revolutionizing e-commerce and customer support.

On this week’s episode of the Marketing Cloudcast  —  the marketing podcast from Salesforce  —  we’re discussing how social media is growing up and maturing into a more useful marketing tool. We brought on the expert: Luke Ball, Senior Director of Product Management at Salesforce, who knows social tools better than anyone else.

If you’re not yet a subscriber, check out the Marketing Cloudcast on iTunes, Google Play Music, or Stitcher.

Take a listen here:

You should subscribe for the full episode, but here are six things that the maturation of social means for your marketing, from our conversation with Luke Ball.  

1. Social today is the Swiss Army Knife of customer engagement.

“We’ve been through the hype cycle and the trough of disillusionment, but I’m seeing a lot of maturation happening right now. Many businesses finally realize the full potential of social and are incorporating it into their processes and business strategies in a more holistic way,” says Luke when asked about the current state of social.

As Luke points out, “We’re seeing new channels emerge within channels. Messenger is a great example and the one to watch this year.”

2. Social listening data is at an all-time high.

“Social media is real time. It’s extremely high volume, and people are literally falling over themselves to tell you what they think of your brand, your competitors, your industry, your products. That insight is actionable, it’s scaleable, and it’s something that doesn’t just affect marketing,” says Luke.

With the influx of sites like Yelp and TripAdvisor, there's truly so much you can listen to today when it comes to customer sentiment about your brand. In fact, there may be more out there than you can keep up with.

3. We need to stop pigeonholing the capabilities of social media.

The evolution of social has been so rapid that many brands are struggling to keep up. When brands pigeonhole social media as only an engagement tool or only a publishing tool, Luke says “they’re missing the bigger story. I would encourage companies to take a step back from how they look at it as a marketing channel. Look at the value of the content and the insight that’s coming through, both on an individual and aggregate level, ask: how can that inform your business?”

4. Social customer service is better than ever.

Handling service cases on social costs one-third of other channels and can offer a faster turnaround. Plus, these customers often tell other people about it after they've had a timely, helpful experience getting their question answered on social. “When you satisfy that customer, when you make them happy, it has an amplification effect that you don’t get in a private one-to-one channel like phone,” says Luke.

Also, as Luke points out, “Social customer service really is the most concrete ROI because you’re talking about a cost center, you’re talking things where you want deflection and fast turnaround,” he advises.

5. Tools and data are super accessible.

“We’re seeing the scaling of social. Teams of practitioners are now becoming centers for excellence. Their jobs are more about enabling, empowering, governing, selecting the strategies and tools for the rest of their business to be successful at social. We call this the hub and spoke model,” shares Luke.  

Because of this shift, Luke explains, “You need to have a different set of priorities for the tools that they use. They have to be very user friendly, easy to learn, easy to re-learn, mobile-first, have access on the go. They need to be consolidated so they’re a one-stop solution, and they need to be connected.”

“It’s a combination of making the tool more accessible but also making the data more accessible,” he says. And today, that's actually possible — whereas in the early days of social, it was all just a dream.

6. Most companies still could do much more with social data.

“I don’t think most brands are fully realizing the value of the data that’s coming in,” says Luke.

Listening for life events can have a big impact. “For consumer brands, life events are huge moments in time when you can shift someone’s loyalty and awareness of your brand — which can have resonance for decades to come,” he shares.

Luke’s advice to organizations looking to get the most out of social? “Instead of asking: what can my company do in this scenario? It’s about flipping the lens and saying: what does my customer want from me and how do I fit into their life? Then structuring around that,” he says.

We talked about much more in the world of social with Luke. Get more insights in this full episode of the Marketing Cloudcast.

Join the thousands of smart marketers who already listen. Subscribe on iTunes, Google Play Music, Stitcher, or wherever else you like to listen to podcasts.

New to podcast subscriptions in iTunes? Search for “Marketing Cloudcast” in the iTunes Store and hit Subscribe, as shown below.

Tweet @youngheike with marketing questions or topics you’d like to see covered next on the Marketing Cloudcast.