Social Media Customer Service 101

Social Media Customer Service 101

Social Media Customer Service 101. The coronavirus pandemic has completely revolutionized the way customer support is carried out by many businesses around the world, especially in terms of social media platforms. More and more businesses switched to social media to carry out their interactions with the customers, and this also brought light to how the customer experience is being offered by them. This article will focus on the basics of how customer service can be managed through the social media platform.

Social Media Customer Service 101

As the name suggests, social media platform consists of websites and mobile applications that focus on the communication between all internet users, their community-based input, content sharing, and collaboration. Facebook, Instagram, etc. are used by people to stay in touch with their loved ones. But ever since Facebook introduced algorithm-based advertising, it has become the perfect place for many businesses and brands to showcase their products or services to the internet users. For instance, Xfinity has its own Facebook page where it posts content about its internet, phone, and cable TV services and gives a platform for customers to reach out to the Xfinity customer service. All in all, Facebook is just one example of how hundreds and thousands of businesses around the world use various social media platforms to work on their relationship with consumers.  

The social media platforms also consist of various tools that help brands track, measure, and analyze the attention they get from their consumers on the social media platforms.

Today social media customer service goes far beyond the conventional method of customer support. It can be found via email, web, text message, etc. Customer service on social media is more than just providing your customers with the answers to their queries; it is an important part of how brands fulfil their promises to the customers.

Tips Brands Use for their Social Media Customer Service

Following are some of the most common steps that have been adopted by brands for an excellent customer service experience.

Dedicated Handled Social Media Customer Support. The customer service team is much more likely to address customers’ queries faster and effectively if there is a dedicated customer service page that is separate from the main social media page.

Monitor Conversations relevant to Brands. Internet users post comments about brands and businesses all over the internet, and that too without tagging them. That means that businesses don’t wait to be tagged by the internet users to work on the relevant queries, rather they search and monitor for any conversations about their brands on social media platforms. That way they can address and solve any service issue where the customers didn’t reach out to them.

Social Media Guidelines. Handling social media customer support is a different job from handling social media marketing, which is why there should be guidelines in place that should align with the company’s values. It could include the following;

  • Tone being used
  • Response time in each communication channel
  • Answers to FAQs

Being Proactive. Social media platforms are also a great outlet for sharing information for educational purposes. If any brand offers online services, then they should also post information about any kind of service issues. Such resources are useful for reducing the number of support requests that come in.

Do More. How your company uses social media for customer service might vary from how other brands use their social media platform for customer service. And having social media for customer support doesn’t just have to be about resolving complaints and issues. Rather it can be anything that makes the customers feel valued and more connected to your brand. They should feel comfortable enough to buy, use and recommend your products or services.

Manage Customers’ Expectations. Obviously, customers do not expect all companies to have the same level of customer service on social media. However, a study has shown that customers who pay more for your services expect a higher level of customer service from the likes of you.

Brands should design their services in such a way that customers’ expectations are set appropriately. They should make it clear to the customers about their goals, the number of service teams available, and how long it would take to respond to their queries.

Finally, ALWAYS RESPOND. This might seem too obvious, but there are still brands that do not follow this simple rule. The majority of brands do not respond to the comments on Facebook and Instagram.

People who comment on your social media posts may or may not be your customers, but answering their queries goes to show that your brand has a very active customer service and that it values their needs. A potential customer who doesn’t get his queries answered will move on to your competition instead.

Wrapping Up

Brands and companies from all over the world might have shifted to social media for business, making it easier for people to peruse their products and services in detail, but they still have a long way to go in terms of managing their social media customer service team. By following a few simple steps to making the customers feel wanted, they can help build their brands’ reputation in the long run.

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