How To Bring Your "A" Game to Social Media Customer Service

Texting is now the primary form of mobile communication by individuals. None of us wants to make or answer a phone call when a text will do. Same goes when we have a customer support issue. So how does a customer text a company? Social Media!

Make Social Media Customer Service Your Top Priority

Altimeter surveyed over 500 Social Media Directors at top international companies and asked, "In 2016, what are your top five external social strategy objectives." Coming in at #1 in North America and Europe was Customer Service at 54% and 47% respectively, beating out Relationship Building, Social Commerce and Video Content.

This is a marked shift in priorities from years past and a clear indicator that customers are choosing social media as a public platform for brand complaints and customer support. The best way to meet this shift is to actively develop social media customer service protocols for all major networks, namely Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Listen Beyond Your Social Profiles

Paying attention to our brand's social profiles for posts and direct messages from customers on a regular basis is a must. However, customers frequently talk about a brand without tagging the brand in their post. Statistically, 30.72% of social users will post about a brand without using a brand's handle. That's nearly a third of a brand's audience!

How do we find these customers? There are comprehensive listening tools available that will capture these conversations. Any brand seeking to emphasize customer service and brand reputation on social media will find social media monitoring well worth the investment. I'm partial to NUVI, however, there are several worthy of consideration. G2Crowd and Google reviews will assist in the research process. Make sure the tool you choose offers real-time listening and engagement, not just historical posts.

Respond Quickly

When it comes to providing customer service on social media, time is money - literally. The faster the response time the higher the dollar value of that customer's future purchases. According to a study done by Twitter in conjunction with Applied Marketing Services, when response times dropped from 60+ minutes down to less than 6 minutes future revenue went up 8.5 times in the airline industry.

• Post on your social profiles the times when your company is available to assist with customer service issues via social media.
• Aim for response times under 10 minutes.

Focus on Negative Complaints

Surprisingly, many brands ignore customer complaints posted on social media. Not only does this open the door for this negative post to go viral, it closes the door on a valuable opportunity to win a brand advocate in a public forum where others are watching how a brand engages with that customer. As a company, you have the potential to win over hundreds if not thousands of viewers per complaint. Statistically, brand loyalty jumps 300% when a brand actively engages with upset customers vs. happy customers on social media.

Show Your Personality

Show your brand's personality during these engagements. Skip the bots and canned responses. Have human interaction. The company representative needs to end each post with his/her first name. If puns and other humor can lighten the experience with the customer all the better. You'll make their day and the exchange has the potential to go viral.

Want to dig deeper? Social Media Today has an excellent article on building customer loyalty with social support. For more examples of social media customer support in action take a look at these examples.

If you found this article valuable, please like and share. Have questions about leveraging your social media efforts? I'd love to help. Message me via LinkedIn.