Improving Loyalty Through Effective Social Media Customer Service
Social media has a good amount of uses, and this even stems into the customer service world. As it turns out, more than 2/3rds of people say they go to Facebook, Twitter and similar social sites with customer service issues. This number is sure to increase as more social platforms offer customer help options right on their sites. Because of this, local companies need to start following these social media customer service rules.
Be Available for Customer Service
Checking your social media page on alternate days simply is not sufficient to provide great customer service. The truth is, 40 percent of consumers believe they should receive a response within the hour. Whether this requires checking your pages periodically throughout the day or hiring a social media manager to handle it, the task is something that must be done.
Use Already-Existing Customer Service Methods
While social media sites will certainly provide more ‘help desk’ type tools in the future, the big two already have an option. On the Twitter Customer Support settings page, you can enable customer support and followers will discover a button on the page saying support is standing by.
The great thing about this is that even those who do not follow you on Twitter can then send direct messages. Similarly, make sure your Facebook business page is set up to take incoming messages. You can also add a contact button directly to the page via the ‘Add a Button’ option.
Be Mindful with Automation
Via their actual site or third-party apps, Facebook and Twitter both have options for computerized acknowledgement. While these might not hurt in every case, especially if it is just a ‘we will be right with you’ message, the wrong automation can send the wrong message. And if you do use automated replies, do not forget to check in regularly. When it comes down to it, messages sound better coming from people who actually consider the issue at hand.
Consumers are participating with brands via social media more than ever. Regrettably, if they see terrible customer service on your page, they may never even try your products. Take the time to do social media customer service properly, and it will eventually pay dividends.
