Sometimes, we complain about a product or service of a business via social media. It could be anything like a device not working right, when you are not happy with the dining experience of a restaurant, or not satisfied with the banking service. You complain to the business through social media platforms such as Facebook (FB), Twitter, or any other. Therefore, if you have a business, you must read your customers’ comments, understand their issues, and resolve the problem. All this means you need to implement social media best practices for addressing the concerns of your buyers and retaining them for the years to come.
Social media should have two-way communication. It will help to grow your business, improve brand awareness, promote your products or services, and customers will realize that you care and listen to them. Studies show that 67 percent of buyers have used social networking sites for their customer service needs. It means a lot of exposure for your brand as well as for the consumers.
According to an article published on https://www.entrepreneur.com, you need to listen to your customers on social media more and speak less. Of course, you will respond to their queries and resolve their issues, but need to practice some attentive listening to understand your buyers’ concerns. Here are some of the best elements of social media to use for customer service:
Make the best use of Facebook
As far as FB is concerned, your business’s support reply time rate on this social media site is undoubtedly revealed on your FB business page.
FB only believes your company is fast as well as responsive when it responds within a few minutes or less, around five. It means answering customer queries or grievances 24/7. Then, you might not have the capability or employee strength to keep an eye on all your social media accounts round-the-clock. Fret not. You have FB’s programmable messenger or chatbots that answer to your customers’ queries even during odd hours. It is one of the best ways to provide outstanding customer service to your targeted audience on FB.
Respond fast on social media
Customer support through email and phone are not available round-the-clock for many companies. Then, when it comes to social media support, the expectation of a quick response always exists. Therefore, 42 percent of your customers wait for some response with an hour or so, if faster, then better for your brand reputation.
What this implies is answering to complaints, reviews, inquiries, and questions as fast as possible. It helps in building trust among your customers and they believe your business cares for them.
There are many adverse effects of poor customer service via social sites. It could cost your business significantly over the years. The negative impacts are your buyers telling their friends and loved ones about their poor experience, buy little or no products from your company in the future, use a different channel to escalate the issue such consumer forums, not recommending your brand or products to others, and compliant openly through all social networking channels.
Studies also show that if you have a poor response time, 56 percent of your buyers would never opt for your company or its products. Therefore, the moral of the story is quick responses on social media prove beneficial to your brand. Besides, when you have a fast response time, you gain more followers as well as try Instagram likes free trial to reach out to a larger audience base.
Use Twitter for improving customer service
When it comes to Twitter, customers expect a response veryfast and that is because the nature of this social media platform is such. Did you know that Twitter is just like a 24-hour news ticker having a continuous information flow? That is the reason why communication on Twitter happens at a fast pace just as in texting.
Studies indicate that 53 percent of people expect a response within 60 minutes on this social site. Moreover, the ratio hops to 72 percent waiting for a response time within 60 minutes of raising a complaint. Therefore, you need to act very fast when you are on Twitter.
To take your customer service to the next level on Twitter, leverage the relationship development methods evident in most of the customer support procedures. These include best practices such as listening, resolving, appreciating, and empathizing with your customers who have a question or some grievance about your product or service offerings. Then, your responses need to be very concise, as Twitter has a 280-character limit. It means your replies must be direct and to-the-point without beating about the bush.
When you cannot reply within the 260-character limit, then you can tell your buyers to go to the direct message (DM) option. The feature is beneficial when the problem is too negative. Remember that tweets are open but DMs are private.
Understanding the necessity of real-time responses via private and public messages is essential as far as using social sites for customer service is concerned, particularly on Twitter.If you resolve a customer query fast through Twitter, you gain the confidence of the buyer as well as retain him or her in the days to come.
Add a greeting and use transparency with initials or names
When a name is obvious from your buyer’s social media account, use that name with a proper greeting. You can use simple greetings like Hello, Hi with the name to connect to your audience personally. It shows that you care. Again, you should close the FB or Twitter customer service reply with an SMS. It means first names or initials to make your brand look more human to your customers.
There are two benefits to it. First, it makes your customers feel that a real person listened to them. It also lets your business to understand as to who replied if there is a concern or issue in the future. These things are easy but many brands do not follow such best practices.
Conclusion
Try to implement these key social media elements to take your customer service to another level. It would build customer trust and loyalty in the future.
Author Bio –
Kristen Smith has been working on the importance of social media in marketing with thousands of real Instagram followers for her postings.