Image via Wikipedia

We’re only beginning to see the use of Twitter for customer service. Yet the expectation of brands that use the channel is increasing all the time.

Businesses may start prioritising engagement with customers on Twitter according to their influence. This was Brian Solis’ prediction speaking at Thinking Digital in Gateshead today.

Solis said that measurement tools such as Klout enabled brands to determine the influence of a Twitter user and prioritise their response accordingly.

Ultimately the ability for consumers to communicate directly with organisations is likely to required fundamental corporate and organisational change.

“Fundamental issues that are repeatedly arising on Twitter need to be dealt with at an operation level within a business,” said Solis.

Placating Twitters users will only work for so long he said.

Solis says that he wrote Engage as a means of explaining to his wife how he earns his living. He said that he intended it to be a handbook for anyone working in new media.

It’s an audacious challenge that led Solis to over shoot his publisher’s brief by 300-pages.

In a Q&A session after his talk Solis was asked how agencies and brands should measure the success of social media campaigns.

He said that it’s very easy to track cause and effect digitally – and that metrics should always be tied to objectives but also recognise intangible and serendipitous benefits.

But Solis cautioned companies to get their online housekeeping in order to improve the effectiveness of their campaigns.

“We’ve one click to get it right. We’re taking people from a rich social experience to web sites that are stuck in the nineties,” he said.

Advertising budgets will continue to decline and interactive marketing including search marketing, display advertising, email marketing, social media, and mobile marketing will grow from 12 to 21 per cent of spend.

The report is focused on the US but the headlines apply worldwide. The only surprise is that the shift to interactive isn’t more dramatic.