Excellent Customer Service on Social Media

Are you replying to your customers on social media?

Do you personalise your interactions?

Do your customers feel appreciated?

The way you offer customer service on social media can have a major impact on your brand’s reputation. Every like, comment or tweet from your audience is the beginning of a conversation, and how you react is crucial. In this article you’ll learn how to shape-up your engagement to ensure you’re creating a great customer experience that will translate into trust and loyalty for your brand.

1.      Provide Solutions

Monitor mentions of your brand on social media to look out for needs to fill and problems to solve. By handling customer issues on the public stage, in real time, you can benefit both the customer and your brand. And your approach will be even more effective if you go above and beyond the generic responses of: ‘please call us so we can help’ or ‘please see our website for the information you require’.
Make the effort to tailor your responses and to offer something satisfying. For example, CitiBike once tweeted a customer a gift card for a new pair of jeans after he tweeted that he had fallen off his bike in the rain. By doing so, the company made a customer’s day better and he naturally tweeted about the incident, getting more reach for the brand. The lesson here is not to underestimate the power of social proof and word of mouth. Approach your customers in an admirable and memorable way to do wonders for your brand’s reputation.

2.      Pay Attention

To create loyal and long-lasting relationships with customers online you need to be attentive and supportive in every situation. Aim to take action in real time and ensure your customer service is positive. If you can provide your customers with what they need quickly then there’s a good chance they’ll spread the word – whether that be on or off social media.
But if your customers are left waiting around, don’t receive the help they need or worse, don’t receive a response at all then this is damaging for your brand’s reputation. Remember, those unanswered requests will build up on your Twitter or Facebook feed for everybody to see. And that translates into bad news circulating your brand.

3.      Be Reliable

When you have a large and loyal following on social media, you are expected to value their attention by making active contributions to your accounts. And when new customers approach your social profiles, they  also expect to see fresh content and evidence of a thriving, engaging community.
But if you don’t stay proactive on social media or worse, desert your channels altogether then your fans will get the idea that you don’t value your customers or your online communities. This could result in lost trust, lost loyalty and lost sales.
Keep your social profiles active and consistent, to keep cultivating relationships.

4.      Go the Extra Mile

Don’t feel like you have to hold back on social media. By putting the effort in to go above and beyond you can further improve your brand’s reputation and maintain great customer relationships. You can even help to elevate your business above the competition.
Show commitment to your customers by treating every interaction as an opportunity. Make it your duty to listen and respond, even if it’s just a ‘thank you’ or ‘enjoy’ in reply to a tweet from someone who purchased from your brand.The more you reach out then the wider your audience, allowing you to promote your quality customer service in front of more prospects.

To Wrap Up

To deliver excellent customer service on social media you need to identify and understand the wants and needs of your customers. And although you may not be able to solve their problems quickly or easily every time, customers usually just want to be listened to. When you respond, you are showing your appreciation and helping to maintain quality customer relationships.
What’s your drill for customer service on social media? Do you have a particular experience where customer service on social media was difficult? We would love to hear your comments below…