Why Customer Service Should Be The Next Frontier For Social Media

The social media landscape has changed drastically in the last few years. Currently, about 77.9% of people in the UK are active social media users. Due to its popularity, every conversation on social media is public.

This trend is the same for all brands and companies using social media in their marketing strategies. Earlier customers were prone to use social media as a last measure for addressing their grievances. Most issues came through private channels like an email or phone call where only the customer and support team were involved. But this has now changed. Every query the customer has reaches social platforms and can drastically affect your brand image if not handled properly.

Moreover, as customer expectations have increased, people are looking for quick resolutions. Social media has become the primary domain for customer service interactions. This has put brands under tremendous pressure to be on their toes to provide efficient customer service on their social handles.

This article from Growth Jockey explores the aspects of social media servicing for your company and the challenges that come with it. It will also provide an approach to delivering the best customer service experience on social media.

What Do We Mean By Social Media Customer Service?

In simple terms, Social Media customer service refers to providing customer support through social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc. This approach allows customers to easily connect with brands while facing an issue, unlike traditional methods such as calling or mailing the customer support team and waiting for them to get back to you.

It has completely changed the modes of customer query resolutions. Customers are prompt in posting about their problems on platforms to seek answers.

Therefore, social networking has become a medium for businesses to engage with customers and develop professional associations. Social engagement has become the key to building a community for your brand, which allows customers to give feedback and put queries apart from posting about issues.

Challenges in leveraging social media for customer service

Although a large number of businesses are opting for a dedicated customer service approach across social platforms, leveraging the benefits of this approach comes with its challenges. Let us look at some of them.

Customer personas and expectations differ across platforms

The term social media encompasses multiple platforms that are very different from each other. Its demographics and expectations differ on each platform.

Brands need to focus on their tone of engagement and response rates keeping in mind the characteristics of the primary users of a specific social platform.

For instance, LinkedIn demands a more formal approach to your posts and has a higher engagement for B2B interactions. Twitter is a microblogging site that only allows you to write 280 characters in a post. So you are supposed to be more informal and message-centric in your writing. Besides, Twitter has a higher presence of influencers and regulatory authorities, compelling you to be more cautious about your writing.

Facebook allows you to interact casually with customers and offers a "very responsive" badge to brands that respond to 90% of posts within 15 minutes.

Customers demand faster service response rates.

Unlike traditional channels, people expect rapid responses to their queries and objections on social media. According to Sprout Social, 79% of consumers expect a response within the first twenty-four hours of reaching out. But the average response rate for brands is lower than 25%.

Companies need to speed up their response time to create a positive brand image for themselves. With Growth Jockey, you can stay updated with emerging trends and shifts in customer behaviour to adapt your service strategy to their needs.

Unexpected changes in service demands

Conversations on social media channels are accessible for the public to see and add opinions. Influencers and other customers get the chance to add their voices to a post, which can go viral within seconds. It can have drastic implications on your brand's reputation. Furthermore, your social media campaign, product launches and new regulations can influence customer service interactions. Therefore it is impossible to predict the service demands to set up a support team accordingly.

Lack of appropriate skills

Customer service on social media requires skills different from what people have in the traditional customer service field. It demands more prompt and dynamic skills to keep up with the unique consumer expectations. Many companies still need help to develop a concrete structure for their customer service team for social media.

Need for Thoughtful workflow management and technological investments

For executing customer service on social platforms effectively, companies need to focus on vigorous workflow and intelligent investment in tech that suits their purpose.

Brands must opt for operating models that allow a wide range of actions, such as identifying relevant service posts, allocating them to related service-specific teams, verifying positions, gathering information about customer issues and resolving them through public or private channels.

Brands that excel through these challenges can avail themselves of free publicity and positive word of mouth while delivering a compelling customer experience.

Growth Jockey can help you find the right technology and devise an effective operating model to build an efficient customer support system.

How to provide top-notch customer service on social media?

Following these best practices can help you provide excellent customer service on your social media handles.

Prioritise social channels

Acknowledging why social media is important in customer service is essential. You have to recognise the fact that customers are giving priority to social platforms over traditional channels. Give equal importance to social media service as any other customer service channel.

Modify Response Time, Tone and Style According to the Social Platform

Effective customer experience depends on your response, resolution time, and customer engagement. You should be able to acknowledge any customer query immediately to meet their expectations. Your first response should come within fifteen minutes.

Focus on resolving basic queries instantly, while complex requests can take some time. Adapt the formality of your response to the social media channel you are operating on. However, remember to stay true to your brand voice. Besides, indulging your customers in exciting activities can help promote your customer service pages.

Adopt a technology that does not let you miss any customer query

To provide excellent service, you need the right social media tools. It can be challenging to monitor all social platforms 24/7 manually. Using an AI chatbot which is always on can help your business in this regard.

A chatbot can interact with your customers instantly without any human efforts on the channels a customer prefers. Chatbots can also personalise interactions by addressing customers with their names or providing offers they might be interested in. Additionally, they can easily hand over the discussions to agents when necessary.

Hire the Right People

Employ people with the right skills to address customer queries and engage customers. Prompt actions are also integral to effective customer service on social media. If one agent cannot solve a question, immediately transfer the conversation to a more experienced agent. You can also hire a virtual assistant who can remotely provide customer support.

Besides, you have to have faith in your representatives. Trust them to converse on your brand’s behalf and give them the liberty to build strong customer relationships ‍

Always have a plan to tackle crises.

In the past, queries were solved privately. Hence problems became public only if the customer made it. But nowadays, any mistake you make can go viral in a minute and can be escalated.

In such scenarios, you must admit that the customer is always right. Try to understand their point of view and apologise for causing any inconvenience. Then convey that you are trying to solve their problem and give them updates.

Monitor Customer Engagement Metrics

Keep a tab on your customer’s responses to your social media posts. While one type of content works for a particular channel, it may not be the same for others. Plan your content for specific platforms based on these observations. Use an analytics tool for social media to monitor public interactions and chatbots for micro-interactions.

Wrapping Up

Customer services on social media offer another way to promote your brand effectively. So, develop an effective strategy with the help of Growth Jockey to provide excellent customer service. As customer service has become the next frontier for social media, focus on employing the right talent, as they will represent your brand on different platforms. Also, aim at improving your support team's response time and engagement quality to ensure a smooth experience. It will build a strong relationship with your customers and create a positive image for your brand.

At Growth Jockey, we are committed to helping businesses achieve organic growth through tailor-made strategies that address the specific challenges they face across diverse industries. Regardless of the scale of your company, whether it's a small-scale enterprise or a large corporation, we can provide you with the expertise and insights needed to drive sustainable growth.

Take a proactive step towards unlocking new opportunities for your brand by reaching out to us today!