More and more customers are stepping away from calling or emailing a company’s customer support to voice a concern or request help. Instead, customers are turning to social media, such as Facebook or Twitter, for their voices to be heard. Not only are your customers active on these social networks, but they expect your company to be there, too, responding and engaging with them. If you aren’t, the customer dissatisfaction could be extremely damaging.

The message is loud and clear: you need to use social media as both a marketing tool as well as a systematic part of your customer service model. Having these two key aspects work in tandem could be the key to harnessing your business’s social media success. Consult the following to learn how to:

• Align all levels. Customer service is much more than one person or team; it’s the entire business. Every department is a different touch point for your customers, therefore, it’s crucial for each to utilize social media to ensure all levels of your business are actively monitoring and caring for your online reputation management.
• Change your paradigm. Social media gives a humanistic quality to your business; however, there are unfortunately more brands that ignore their Facebook and Twitter interactions than those that actively respond and engage with them. This is why bringing in social media as a customer service tool requires a commitment. Monitor social media regularly and make it a goal to respond to issues the same day, even if it is only to thank the customer and inform them that you are looking into the concern. These actions will prevent a very public snowball effect, which could potentially reach thousands of possible customers.
• Set rules. Determine who will manage your social media accounts and provide guidelines for how they should respond to negative comments by defining a clear path for escalation and resolution. This will ensure a prompt response as well as provide a hierarchy for responding to customers.
• Know when to respond. Taking a proactive approach to social media does not mean you absolutely need to respond to everything; it just means do not overlook anything. Understand that not all comments are relevant or solvable. However, address legitimate complaints as well as compliments, and look for the positives.

After you’ve implemented a successful system for social media monitoring, consider keeping a record of customer service interactions. As the new equivalent to monitoring phone calls, these interactions could be used as training tools in the future. If you are looking for further details on developing a business social media plan, contact the experts at Staffers today!