If engaging with your customers online is a relatively new thing, you have to allow time to find your confidence and competence. Done well, social media offers you an excellent customer service opportunity enabling you to build better client relationships.
Like all 'change' it calls for you to be open-minded, be prepared to adapt and not be afraid of having a go.
Of course, you will have to adapt your customer service techniques, but the good news is that the excellent customer service you're already offering is the best foundation for learning these new skills.
Why you have to overcome any scepticism about social media
The difficulty with social media and why so many businesses either don't engage or only do so in very guarded terms is that it's easy to misjudge the mood of a remark, and it's an obviously public forum.
Think of social media as two-way dialogue. The first thing to remember is that the customer wants a response, especially if their original post was critical or questioning of your company policy.
The more significant issue here is about monitoring your social media channels – it's an immediate forum that thrives on prompt responses and direct comments. A large proportion of problems that get out of hand concern lack of response from organisations rather than the original complaint or the perceived mishandling of a complaint.
Social media engagements may seem like casual remarks, letting off steam or even sheer mischief at times, but they are all invitations to start a dialogue and to engage that customer (or potential customer) in a conversation.
Sometimes, especially in the case of a complaint or hostile comment, it's best to take the conversation offline as soon as possible. You can do this by offering to telephone the customer to discuss the issue or by directing them to your website and Live Chat support.
If the original post was to ask for information, to clarify a point regarding your product or service or to offer praise then, by all means, keep it online.
In either scenario, acknowledge the customer as soon as possible and thank them for taking the time to make you aware. They will be pleased that you’ve acknowledged them, are listening to them and are taking them seriously.
In the same way that it's mostly how a business deals with a compliant made in person that influences a customer's lasting impression, the same goes with online engagement except now there are all your followers and all their followers watching events unfold.
Customers like feeling like they’re being looked after and will tell others about it and that works both ways of course.
How social media can turn complainers into fans
Having acknowledged the customer and started a conversation; it's all about personality and tone of voice. Social media is a casual forum. We're not saying that you should abandon your professionalism or disregard common courtesies, but you are allowed to be a person. Use a friendly tone of voice, pick up on the irony or even appropriate humour of the situation. Those businesses that use song lyrics, limericks, make up daft videos or go the extra mile to apologise with aplomb do it for a reason. Social media loves it, followers love it, and it will put your brand personality across.
Being 'shared' is the holy grail of engagement, and that only comes by investing as much time, thought and regard for online engagement as you would for any other aspect of your service.
Who is the best person to deal with social media?
This can be a difficult decision, especially for smaller organisations. A member of your existing admin team who is personally active on social media may seem like the obvious choice? A word of warning if you're thinking along these lines (or if that's your only choice) you actually need someone well-versed in your customer service sales techniques, who understands your brand ethos, who naturally communicates in the brand tone of voice and has the time and the authority to manage and react 24/7.
We Are Your Business can take away some or all of these potential hazards and turn them into blissfully happy customers by delivering on your promises!
We monitor your social media channels and can post on your behalf according to an agreed set of parameters. We use your preferred and even a specially constructed tone of voice. We can employ scheduling tools to manage your pre-approved social media posts and blog posts; both are vital tools in extending the range of 'added-value' activity in line with your CRM planning.
We refer any matters that need 'higher level' input to you immediately (having acknowledged the customer) and manage the situation with posts that are reassuring and appropriate. This gives you time to formulate a full response or to take the engagement offline. We do all of this 24/7, so you can get on with the rest of your business, and your staff can do what they do best.
We can apply all of this to emails and to monitoring and managing specific e-campaigns as well. Are you still having doubts? Replace thoughts of social media engagements as being a necessary evil and regard it as an alternative source of potential customers.
Talk to us about what we can do to support your online experience and realise the full value of taking a proactive role in managing your social media.
October Special Offer
We’re offering a free 30-day trial of social media monitoring across Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Contact us on 0333 456 247-7 to find out how we can put you in charge of your online presence.
