WILL YOU MATCH UP OR WILL YOU SHUT DOWN?

SOCIAL MEDIA CUSTOMER SERVICE IN KENYA

In the current Kenyan marketplace, customers expect you to meet them where they are. They expect you to go to them and not vice-versa.

Consider this,

 While your company is still struggling to be consistent with that one social media platform, your competitors are on every platform and responding to customers in less than 5 minutes! Where does that leave you??

While your company is hearing about social media customer service for the first time, your competitors have perfected their art and are giving not just good but excellent social media customer service. Again, where does that leave you?

It’s time to wake up! Right?

As a business or corporate, you must have good social media presence and excellent social media customer service as well.

Customers expect companies to provide support via their social media channels in 63 percent of cases. Social media customer service is highly effective because clients can contact your team in a fast and cheaper way.

Customers are no longer willing to wait for hours to speak with agents in this age of digitization. They are more likely to take their issue to social media platforms and express their frustration.

This article will show you practical ways of improving your social media customer service for that competitive edge.

 HOW TO PROVIDE EXCELLENT ONLINE CUSTOMER SERVICE

1.   Create Support Handles

How a corporation manages social media customer service reveals how they handle large-scale client requests. When developing a social media customer service strategy, keep your consumers in mind and make it easy for them to seek assistance. You can lose a customer due to poor customer service, but you can also lose a customer by making seeking help too tricky for them.

Having a single social media handle dedicated just to customer support will go a long way toward making things easier for your customers. You will be able to organize the scattered consumer complaints in this method.

With this handle, you will undoubtedly be able to respond quickly to customer inquiries. Customer queries will not dominate your social media marketing activities if you create separate customer assistance handles. Your brand's social media customer service handles will assist in improving client interactions.

You might want to consider setting up various support handles for different countries to manage complaints based on the customer's location and time zone so that you can answer fast. As a result, you'll also be able to offer assistance in a personalized way.

 2.  Facebook for Social Media Customer Service

Facebook is the most popular social media platform, it's likely to be your clients' first point of contact for both compliments and complaints. Responding to your followers, taking responsibility for your mistakes and keeping customers informed can all help to create trust and credibility.

Facebook only considers your company "fast" or "extremely responsive" if it responds within 5 minutes or less, 24 hours a day, seven days a week!

You may use programmable messenger bots to monitor your social media accounts 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and customize away messages for off-hours, allowing you to provide more effective customer service on Facebook.

 3.   Social Media Policies

Social media customer service differs from social marketing in terms of problems and potential. It's also critical to have social media policies in place. These should align with your company's principles and the social marketing team's recommendations. Your social customer service brand standards should include things like:

·      A message approval method and a permission management system

·      Tone of voice

·      Response time for each channel

·      Answers to frequently asked inquiries

·      Protocol for escalations or other customer issues

 4.   Fast and Personalized Responses

The best thing a brand can do to provide people with excellent customer service, for most customers is to "respect their time." In social media customer service, response time is just as important as quality.

Customers who complain on social media expect a response within one hour. Customers have become impatient due to the fast-paced world of social media.

When a massive number of complaints are received, responding fast becomes even more challenging. If your company decides to react fast in such a situation, you can quickly satisfy your customers' complaints and improve their opinion of your company.

More significantly, a prompt reaction to a customer's social media complaint demonstrates that you care about their issue. When a client complaint goes unresolved, it appears as if your company is attempting to dodge the matter or is not treating all consumers fairly.

 5.   Customer Service with Social Media Tools

You can utilize a variety of social media technologies to help with customer service:

You can use a variety of social media technologies to assist with customer service

·     Messaging apps: Messaging tools, such as Facebook Messenger, are excellent ways to engage with clients directly. Request that they contact you directly (or reach out to you if they posted a remark on your page) so that you can handle the situation privately.

·      Live chat: Live chat is an excellent customer support alternative since it gives real-time responses from real live-chat representatives.

·      Chatbots: Chatbots, like live chat, are ideal for quickly addressing consumer complaints. Customers will not have to wait for a response from a chatbot, even if it is in the middle of the night. Chatbots are also less expensive to use than human customer support employees. However, responses lack a human touch because there is no actual representative on the other end of the line.

·      Tracking systems: Certain software and services track the impact of your social media customer care efforts, letting you know how long it takes your company to reply to messages or address issues. You'll be able to give your approval wherever it's needed.

6.   Make Public Conversations are Private.

Many irate or dissatisfied consumers post public comments on your Instagram and Facebook pages or tweet to your company. These can reflect poorly on your business, particularly if people retweet or spread the words.

While you should not disregard these signals, you should not deal with the situation in public. Sending a public response with an invitation to continue the conversation privately shows other consumers that you appreciate their input. Send a tweet back to apologize and remind them that a customer care staff member reached out to them in their direct messages if someone tweets about how their purchase came damaged.

Even positive issues should be tackled privately, as this shows your clients that you care about their privacy and aren't just aiming for public acclaim. General information can be shared publicly but further communication should be private. Spend time chatting with consumers one-on-one to provide a more personalized customer support experience.

 7.   Examine Customer Feedback for Opportunities

Customer feedback and complaints are an open invitation to improve your brand's reputation and client relationships. Every client expects to be heard and appreciated. By swiftly responding to any criticism and inquiries, you not only make your customers happy but also maximize the opportunity to improve your brand as a whole.

 8.   Use Social Media to Boost Your Brand's Visibility.

Any firm that wants to succeed in the long run must invest in branding. In addition, the goal of social media is to increase brand recognition. A social media customer service strategy should be the priority for improving a company's image and relations.

Using the correct techniques to engage and deliver customer service on social media platforms is referred to as social media branding. Social media platforms assist in differentiating your brand's positioning and demonstrating to your clients that you are approachable.

In Summary,

If your business or company has ignored social media customer service or is not taking it seriously, then it’s missing great opportunities and literally leaving money on the table for competitors.

Ensure that you have a social media strategy, implement it, keep evaluating its effectiveness and polishing up. This will keep your customers happy, increase your competitiveness, brand reputation and subsequently grow your company.

 I’m curious to hear your answer…

Which company would you say has the best social media presence and responsiveness in Kenya?

About Author

Jackie Wahome, a Customer Experience Trainer in Kenya with over 15 years of experience in Customer Experience across different industries in Kenya.

I help businesses make more and retain more customers through unrivalled Customer Experience.

Jackie’s Profile Link https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/jackie-wahome-customer-experience-trainer-7b272554/

Subscribe to my Biweekly Newsletter https://www.dhirubhai.net/newsletters/unrivalled-customer-service-6917811470386794496/

Company Profile Link Customer Centric Kenya https://www.dhirubhai.net/company/customer-centric-kenya/

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