Around 67% of customers use social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter to resolve their issues. If you want to excel at social media customer service, you’ll need to equip yourself with knowledge.
Nearly 70% of consumers say they’ve used social media for customer service purposes at least once. Customer service is a viable aspect of social media that many brands and companies are taking advantage of.
Social media gives you the benefit of instant and meaningful communication. Here’s what you need to know about providing customer service via social media.
Social Media Customer Service: Prioritization
Depending on the size and popularity of your social media channels, you might be getting a lot of mentions. That’s the point, right?
However, you’ll have to sift through your mentions to perform legitimate social media servicing.
Determine how to separate mentions that require a response from mentions that don’t. The highest priority for responses are questions about technical or account-related issues, complaints, urgent service/product requests, or issues that affect many users at once and could potentially cause a PR crisis.
Your next priority should be responding to general questions about/references to your product/services, thanking those who provide positive feedback, and connecting with people who made comments about your brand or industry that weren’t targeted at you.
Some smaller businesses use the private messaging or DM feature to archive customer service interactions.
Respond In a Timely Manner
Around 42% of consumers expect a social media response from brands or companies within an hour of contacting them. Most people will expect a response within a day of contacting your brand on social media.
The quicker you can provide social media support, the happier your customers will be. Stay on top of your mentions so they don’t pile up and overwhelm you.
Don’t be in such a rush to respond that you fail to address a problem appropriately. Try to respond to mentions in a day or so.
Listen & Respond
Part of being a business on social media and customer service is reading a customer’s emotional state and determining an appropriate response. Sometimes, it’s appropriate to use emojis and clever lingo. Other times, a formal apology works best.
Listen to what your customers are saying. Take notice if many customers are having specific yet similar experiences with your product or service. If these similar experiences are negative in nature, your business should come up with a solution.
Your brand should have a social media policy of its own.
You must know when you need to take a problem offline to solve it. Some problems are more in-depth and can’t be resolved in a single tweet. Don’t engage with customers who simply want to argue or defame your brand name.
Give Great Customer Service Via Social Media
Businesses lose around $75 billion due to poor customer service. Providing social media customer service of quality will keep your customers coming back for more.
Nearly 60% of consumers won’t tolerate poor service for a cheaper price. Even if you have a good product/brand/service, your business won’t thrive unless you beef up your online customer service game.
Upgrade your business and your corporate social media policy contact an expert on boosting your social media presence. It’s the best investment you’ll ever make.
