If your brand is on social media, fans expect a conversation, not a one-way broadcast. They’ll use this medium to provide feedback on their customer experience and request assistance when needed. Are you ready to provide a superior customer service experience on social?
“Brands that are still refusing to use social for customer care will really start to look foolish in 2016.” -David Moth, Econsultancy
Speed Matters But So Do Solutions
Yes, timely replies are appreciated but responding immediately is overrated. People want an answer to their question or a solution to their problem. They don’t care whether you tweet them every few minutes that you’re working on their issue. If a solution is going to take some time, respond to give them a time-frame and then provide an update if that changes.
Respond in the Right Way
If assisting a customer requires sharing sensitive information, move the communication to a private channel. Facebook helped Page administrators earlier this year by adding a Message option to posts and comments. When choosing this response option, a message opens with the post and/or comment included for easy reference and a note is displayed on the Page letting others know that you responded. Twitter also made private communication easier this year with a number of changes, including the ability to receive and reply to Direct Messages from anyone.
Facebook Pages: Now Open for Communication
Don’t Nix Negativity
It’s a judgement call whether the conversation should be made private. However, don’t do it just because a customer makes a negative comment. Resolving an issue in the open can be a boost for your brand and shows others that you’re transparent and willing to correct a poor experience. No brand is perfect but how you handle a negative situation can be the difference between a disgruntled fan and brand evangelist.
Get Social on Social
If possible, keep your communication on social media. This is the medium that your customer chose to use, so don’t just respond with a stock message to call your general customer service number. Your customer may have already tried other routes, so pushing her back to those failed avenues is frustrating and will lead to an even more negative view of your brand.
Providing a superior customer experience on social requires work, but the pay off is worth it. By keeping the four tips above in mind, you can create evangelists for your brand and fans for life.
Let’s get social,
Jaime
Let’s chat (about social media, your marketing needs or otherwise):
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