4 Social Media Customer Service Best Practices
Excellent social media customer service can add value to your brand!
It’s no secret that online customer service is an increasingly important component for a brand’s overall customer service. As the landscape shifts from in-person or voice to online customer service, some brand’s social media customer service falls short of perfect.
With social media customer service comes a whole new set of best practices.
For example, interacting with customers in-person gives you the benefit of physical cues. Tone of voice and body language show customers your emotions. On the other hand, brands interacting with customers online lose this ability. They have to almost completely rely on text to express their emotion.
The good news is that many customers actually prefer online customer service. Use these 4 social media customer service best practices in your business to make your customer’s online experience spot on!
The Importance of Social Media Customer Service for Your Brand
Providing great customer service for your customers will add to your brand’s value:
- Customers are brand ambassadors:
- When a customer has a good (or bad) experience with a brand, they are going to share it with their peers, online followers, etc. By providing excellent customer service, you have created a team of brand ambassadors that will improve your brand’s reputation.
- Customers base their shopping decisions off customer service: If a consumer asks a brand on Twitter “what are your store hours” and the brand doesn’t answer within 60 minutes or so, that customer will have already spent their money elsewhere.
- Monitoring social media can help a brand to understand their customers better: By monitoring customer service comments and mentions, brands can determine common pain points, fix them, and increase their brand’s value.
- Customer service support is an opportunity for brands to solidify their brand image: Brands can take the opportunity to solidify their brand’s values by proving they are customer-oriented.
So, we know the importance of online customer for your brand, but what are the best practices that you brands should follow? Read on to find out!
- 4 Social Media Customer Service Best Practices
1. Timing is Everything
According to a report by Convenience and Convert, in today’s fast paced world, 42% of consumers are expecting a response from brands within 60 minutes.
The benefit of using social media to monitor your customers’ questions and concerns is the ability to respond promptly. Take advantage of Twitter, Youtube, Instagram, and Facebook’s speedy nature and answer your consumer’s questions in a timely manner.
By doing so, you give consumers the impression that you value their time and concerns.
Example: Morton’s Steakhouse
Peter Shankman, a best selling customer service author, and NASA advisor, asked Morton’s Steakhouse to meet him at the Newark airport with a Porterhouse steak.
Although Shankman was kidding, three hours later, he was greeted by a Morton’s server with a Porterhouse steak in hand.
Not only was Morton’s quick to respond, but they also gave Shankman steak, shrimp, potatoes, and bread— for free!
The Lesson: Morton’s proved to Shankman, and everyone watching on Twitter, that the restaurant is quick to respond to customer questions, concerns, and in this case, hilarious requests. You can show your consumers how much you value their time by answering their questions and concerns in a timely manner.
2. Never. Stop. Monitoring.
According to Forrester research, 73% of people say that valuing their time is the most important thing a company can do to provide them with good service.
Answering consumers’ questions and concerns around the clock shows that your brand cares about their customers, not only during business hours but before and after as well.
Pro Tip: This doesn’t mean that you have to hire employees to sit in front of a computer 24/7. Instead, look into different real-time social media monitoring tools that can help you keep an eye on your customers round the clock.
Example: Waterstone’s Book Store
This example, although a little extreme, illustrates the importance of monitoring social media all the time.
David Willis was innocently browsing Waterstone’s book store when he realized that he was the only person left inside the store. As it turns out, he was locked inside!
Willis proceeded to send this Tweet:
Thankfully, Waterstone’s was still monitoring their social media, saw the tweet, and set David free.
David then tweeted:
Thankfully, Waterstone’s was still monitoring their social media, saw the tweet, and set David free.
David then tweeted:
The Lesson: If Willis was stuck in that store for any longer, I’m sure he would have something bad to say about Waterstones. But thanks to their social media monitoring system, Waterstones was able to intervene and solve the problem before it got out of control. The lesson here is that without their social media monitoring system, this mishap could have turned into a crisis. Installing a social media monitoring system will help your brand find, intervene, and solve issues faster, and show customers that you care about solving their problems.
3. Keep Your Cool
Part of working on the Internet is dealing with all different kinds of people. This includes people who are going to push your buttons from time to time.
However, it’s important to keep your cool when the conversation gets heated. The best practice here is to first assess the situation before taking any actions.
Sometimes it may seem easier to not engage with the angry customer at all. But the truth is, by not responding you are showing the rest of the online community that you are unwilling to handle complicated situations.
It’s also important to recognize when it’s time to remove yourself and the angry commenter from a public conversation. Make the conversation private or block the commenter from your accounts if:
- They are using vulgar language.
- They are being completely unreasonable.
- They are continually trolling your pages.
Example: Nestle
Nestle ran into issues on Facebook a few years ago when Greenpeace changed their Kit Kat logo to say “Killer” instead of “KitKat.” Greenpeace was referencing to Nestle’s use of palm oil and how their production process is destroying the Indonesian forests.
Nestle received a huge influx of comments after Greenpeace’s protest and the person handling their Facebook page definitely lost their cool. Instead of stepping back, assessing the crisis, and proceeding with some sort of an apology or explanation, Nestle responded with the following They are using vulgar language.
They are being completely unreasonable.
They are continually trolling your pages.
comments:
The Lesson: In any industry, you’re going to run into people that disagree with your brand’s processes, but how you deal with these customers is what’s important. By answering with such disdain, Nestle tarnished their brand’s reputation more than Greenpeace’s protest would have. Which, is the exact reason why it’s important to keep your cool in heated situations. Providing customers with helpful feedback or sincere apologies will help reinforce your brand’s reputation as providing excellent customer service.
4. Watch Your Tone
Watching your tone can be difficult, especially online where people can misinterpret your message.
The general rule, however, is to use the same tone as the commenting consumer (unless they’re angry, then refer back to Best Practice #3). Using the same tone puts you on the same level as the commenting customer. It shows them that you understand what they’re trying to say.
Furthermore, use an informal, conversational tone that sounds human. Using an overly robotic tone may make the commenter feel frustrated or unheard.
Pro Tip: Remember, a simple please and thank you can go a long way.
Example: JetBlue AIrways
Easi Velez, a JetBlue customer, had a bad experience while on a JetBlue flight and tweeted this at the company:
The company responded in a sympathetic and understanding tone of voice, letting Velez know that they were sorry for his experience, and wanted to offer him a credit for his non-working TV.
The Lesson: JetBlue Airways handled their customer’s negative experience with precision. Answering his tweet with an empathetic tone of voice that was a must for in this situation. When you’re trying to remedy bad experiences with your customers, choose a tone of voice that will help make an already frustrated customer feel heard and understood.
Conclusion
Overall, the best practice you can have with social media customer service is to take it seriously.
People will talk about your brand and they do have an influence on your brand’s value. By taking social media customer service seriously you have control over what people are saying about your brand, and how others perceive your brand’s value.
