Social media is a platform where customers can reach companies directly and easily – whether it be publicly (via comments, tags, or posts) or privately through direct messages. They can also provide feedback on their experience, resulting in a positive or negative customer review.
It’s important to offer prompt and relevant customer service on social media channels.
1. Social Media Platforms
Social media is a communication platform that allows people to share photos, videos or text. It also has many features that are useful for businesses.
In addition to marketing, it can be used for customer support. This includes responding to complaints and resolving problems. It can also include providing guidance or information about products.
Companies need to understand which platforms their customers use. Facebook is the most popular, with over 2.89 billion monthly active users. Instagram is a visual-heavy platform that has an audience of over 1 billion. TikTok, a shortform video app, is popular among teenagers for dancing and sharing makeup tips. Snapchat is a favorite for behind-the-scenes videos and influencer takeovers. Reddit is known as the front page of the internet and has over 2.8 million communities or subreddits.
2. Analytics
Billions of people use social media to connect with each other and to businesses, products and services. They share information, entertainment and their perspectives on news events. Social media has also become a platform for brands to reach customers directly.
Providing customer service over social media can be challenging for companies because of the dynamic nature of these channels. Having clearly defined workflows and supporting technology are essential. It is imperative to provide a consistent and fast response because customers expect this.
Using dedicated social accounts for customer support makes it easy to assign and monitor incoming public messages. This approach also allows the company to humanize itself as an active participant in its market. This is important because it allows customers to recognize and trust its team members as people.
3. Automation
Social media tools have automated capabilities that can be used to schedule posts, analyze data and generate reports. These automation capabilities allow marketers to spend more time on critical tasks like content creation and customer engagement.
However, it’s important to remember that no amount of automation can replace a human touch. Automating customer service can make your brand appear tone-deaf or robotic, and it’s crucial to ensure that someone on your team is available to review scheduled content before it’s published.
Servicing customers on social media requires a new approach that involves clearly defined workflows and supporting technology. Leading organizations have mastered six key areas of social media servicing excellence, including service strategy, response times, resolution effectiveness and quality of engagement (Exhibit 1). With the right processes, organization and support technology in place, your business can successfully leverage platforms for customer support.
4. Monitoring
Social media monitoring is the backbone of a comprehensive customer service platform. It can immediately alert teams when mention volume skyrockets or sentiment takes a dive.
Unpredictable service demand spikes can be caused by a wide range of factors, including marketing campaigns, regulatory changes and new product launches. Managing the impact of these spikes requires a clear understanding of what customers are talking about and how that compares to the brand’s perception.
This data can be analyzed to identify product issues and improve future offerings. It can also be leveraged to maintain brand health and shape customer experience expectations. Often, the best approach to monitoring is to combine response and resolution teams in order to have a single point of ownership. This ensures consistency in messaging and faster time to resolution.
5. Training
It is essential that employees receive training on social media platforms as different users have varying expectations when it comes to their interactions with brands. For example, LinkedIn is used by older generations, so businesses need to be aware of differences in tone of voice and formality when interacting with customers on this platform.
By offering omnichannel support, companies can meet customers on the platforms they already use for instant communication. In addition, by implementing clear guidelines, the risk of bias in employee responses can be minimized. One way to do this is by encouraging employees to share customer feedback with other departments on a regular basis. This can help improve overall brand perception. Moreover, it can help to identify common customer questions and provide self-service information.
