Social Media Customer Service Response Times - Are You Fast Enough

Introduction

Do you know if slow social media response time is harming your social media customer engagement?

Here’s a hint: according to Forrester Research, “77% of people say that valuing their time is the most important thing a company can do to provide them with good service.”

However, according to Social Media Today, “For 51% of brands, real-time social media engagement is the biggest challenge.”

It’s no secret that timing is important to customers and companies are having a difficult time keeping up, but how does timing affect your customer engagement and why is it vital for you to keep up? Read on to find out.

What Is Social Media Customer Engagement?

Social media customer engagement is when a company creates and maintains relationships with their customers online. The company-customer relationships you develop can serve as an avenue for promotions, social customer service, and customer feedback, which can translate into an enhanced customer experiences and an increase in sales.

Social media customer engagement rate is a measure of how much engagement a company is receiving on social media. The higher a social media customer engagement rate is, the more engagement a brand is receiving on social media.

Engaged customers are:

Informed about your products and services.
Pleased with your social media customer service.
Willing to spread their positive experiences with your brand to their peers.

Why is social media customer engagement important?

Customer engagement is about creating a complete customer experience that improves the overall quality of your business. A high social media customer engagement rate often results in improvements in the following areas:

Revenue Growth: According to Gallup research, “[the] fully-engaged customer represents 23% more revenue than average.”
Brand Visibility: Customers want to share their excellent customer service experiences with their peers. According to Convince and Convert, “answering a social media complaint increases customer advocacy by as much as 25%.”
Customer Loyalty: Exceptional customer experiences lead to increased customer loyalty. According to Accenture, “81% of U.S. consumers feel loyal to brands that are there when they need them, but otherwise, respect their time and leave them alone.”
Customer Information: Engaging with customers on social media can aid in the discovery of:
- Customer likes and dislikes
- Improvements that need to be made to your product or service
- Where and how to reach new customers
- The best method for reaching your customers

How do slow response times harm my social media customer engagement rates?

When a company is slow to respond to a customer’s question, the individual eventually feels disengaged. This can lead to frustration as the customer views a slow response time as a lack of respect for their time. When a customer expects a brand not to respond, they will not bother to comment, like, or share a post, decreasing the brand’s customer engagement rate.

How long do companies take to respond on social media, on average?

According to Shep Hyken’s Customer Service Blog:

“For email, the average response time was 7 hours and 51 minutes!
For Facebook, the average response time was one day, 3 hours and 7 minutes!
For Twitter, the average response time was one day, 7 hours and 12 minutes!”

Why do brands have a difficult time responding to their customers on social media in a timely manner?

When companies receive a large volume of complaints, they cannot keep up as they don’t use the right tools to keep up with their number of social media complaints.
When it comes to customer engagement, the entire team needs to participate. Companies often forget to implement their customer engagement strategy throughout the entire team. For example, the sales department will be able to answer a sales question quicker and more effectively than the social media department.
Companies may not understand their customers well enough to implement an effective customer engagement strategy. When you truly understand your customers’ wants and needs, you can also understand what should be posted and when. For example, a social media post about Christmas in July will not receive the same social media engagement rate that a social media post about Christmas in December would. A Christmas post in July just doesn’t make sense, and your customers will be able to see that you don’t understand them.

How can I improve my social media customer service?

1. Understand your target audience: Understand who your customers are and what they want. This way you can craft messages and post them in the right place and at the right time. Furthermore, understanding where your customers are asking their questions will help you find them faster. For example, if your target audience is comprised of 30-35-year-old professionals working 9-5, look for their questions on Facebook during lunch hours, before work, and after work.
2. Plan posts ahead of time: The type of content you post and when you post it will affect your customer engagement rate. Use scheduling tools that ensure the right posts will be up at the right time.
3. Reevaluate past timing: Look at past campaigns, customer comment sections, etc. and analyze how well you kept up with your customers. For example, if your campaign from last fall didn’t receive a high engagement rate, consider whether you’re timing had something to do with it. Did you post too early or too late?
4. Use tools: Give yourself an extra helping hand by using social media listening tools that will help you find mentions, comments, questions, and concerns your customers are asking anywhere on social media. This will make it easier for you to engage with your customers in real-time.
Conclusion
Social media customer engagement is directly related to timing. When you understand who your customers are, you can effectively manage their wants, needs, questions, and concerns within a timely manner.

How has timing affected your customer engagement rate? Make sure your social media customer service is fast enough.