customer service tips for social media

Why social media?

If you aren’t convinced it’s important for your business to be on social media, get this:

  • 77% of Americans have a social media profile. That’s up from 10% in 2008.
  • In 2018, worldwide social media users reached 2.34 billion.
  • There are nearly 1.9 billion registered accounts on Facebook and 1.2 billion on YouTube.
  • 88% of 18- 29-year-olds have at least one social media account. That share falls to 78% of those ages 30-49, 64% for ages 50-64, and 37% for those 65 and older.

Regardless of what age demographic you are trying to target, a huge percentage, likely more than half,is on social media.

People use social media for a variety of reasons. This includes sharing photos, accomplishments and life events, networking, following news, publications, celebrities or influencers, inspiration and getting ideas, style, cooking, looking for jobs.

In fact, experts predict that soon, people will use the Facebook search tool more than Google when it comes to looking up locations and services like restaurants, bars, doctors and others.

If you build it, will they come?

Just because you have a Facebook page doesn’t mean you are automatically going to get thousands of followers and dozens of shares on each post.

But it does mean you are out there for the world to see.

People can send you messages asking questions or searching for resolutions. They scroll your feed to see what you post about, events or sales you have, pictures you post, community engagement. They read what people comment on your posts. They look at what your star rating is and read reviews and recommendations (or not) from others.

And one thing that they are either consciously or subconsciously looking for is how you comment and engage back. How you talk to your customers plays an important role in your marketing plan. It shows your customers and prospects what kind of company you are, whether or not you value customer service, and the lengths you’ll go to make sure your customers are taken care of.

How you interact with your followers, customers and prospects on social media can make or break yourbusiness. That’s why it’s so important to embrace the two-way communication that social media provides, and take care of your customers and prospects virtually just as well as you would in person or over the phone.

Taking care of your customers on social

While it’s important to be active and take care of followers on social media, there is a certain etiquette to follow to make sure you’re engaging properly for your business.

Customer service on social media must be handled slightly different than you would over the phone or in person. You have less space to work with, you are being interpreted through words instead of tone of voice or facial expressions, and once you publish your response it’s out there for anyone to see.

Social Media Customer Service Tips

Research shows that answering a complaint on social media can increase customer advocacy by 25%, while failing to respond can reduce customer advocacy by as much as 50%.

According to Conversocial, nearly 96% of consumers are affected by other comments on a brand’s social pages. So, almost ALL current customers and prospects will be affected by your responses to questions, comments and concerns raised on your pages.

Here are some tips for outstanding customer service online:

1. Always respond. Whether it’s a complaint, a compliment, or just a comment. Your customers want to know they are being heard.

  • If someone has a complaint… respond in a way that takes the conversation offline. This is especially important if there are a lot of back and forth replies (that clutters up your page) or sensitive personal information is required.

    You can ask them to send you a private message, call a dedicated toll-free number, or email a customer service email address. If they have a legitimate complaint, you don’t want them airing their dirty laundry for everyone to see. However, you do want to help them solve their problem.

    If they contact you and you are able to resolve their problem, be sure to go back to the original comment and thank them for contacting you, and share you were glad you were able to resolve the issue.

    One thing to note is that in a recent study, nearly 40% of respondents mention “getting passed around” as a source of frustration. If you can solve their issue without going offline, do so. They will appreciate the immediate response and resolution. If it’s a matter of protecting their information, or needing additional information, do take it offline, but make sure to give them a phone number or other way to contact that will actually get them a person to talk to. Perhaps give a heads up to someone in your customer service department that this call is coming.

    Or, ask the customer to send you a private message with their phone number and have a customer service rep reach out directly to them.
  • If someone has a compliment… thank them! Let them know you hear them. Give them a special offer for being a loyal customer, invite them to an event you are having, or ask them if there are any services/products they want that you don’t yet offer. Whatever you do, make them feel like they are your only customer, and you are genuinely glad they are.
  • If they have a question or comment… answer it, or respond. Again, one of the benefits of social media is the ability for two-way communication. If they are asking a question on your post, they want instant gratification, not to look for the answer on your website or call a phone number. Give them a simple, but complete answer. Do give them somewhere to go if they want more information, but they shouldn’t have to.

    If they just have a comment, simply ‘liking’ their comment shows acknowledgement. Or, thank them for their comment. Make it a conversation, like you would have with someone you know. If they are happy with your product and recommending it to others, thank them and show your appreciation. Engage with them like you would a friend – this builds return customers and increases the likelihood of positive word of mouth advertising.
  1. Be timely. Research shows that 40% of customers who complain on social media expect a response within one hour. That may seem quick, especially if you don’t have a dedicated employee to run your social media account. The important thing is to respond as soon as possible.

    If you are running your business account, turn on notifications so you get an email or push notification whenever anyone comments or sends a message to your business. Or, plan to check your page at least once, but more two or three times per day to stay on top of the engagement.

    On your page, there is something called “average response time.” This lets visitors to your page know how long it typically takes you to respond to inbound messages. You want to keep this response time as low as possible.
  2. Be human. Whether someone has a compliant, a question or simply a comment, you want to be human in your response. These are real people interacting with you, and they want to talk to a real human, not a corporation or business. Social media is a way for you to humanize your brand and put a “voice” to your company’s brand. Social media is… social. So while you can have canned responses for different scenarios, make sure to add a social element to them.

    When responding, make sure you use the right tone of voice. Does the person use emojis and exclamation points? Use them back! Are they serious or concerned? Respond with a serious or comforting tone. Did they comment a GIF? Comment a GIF back! Do they sound frustrated or angry? Be understanding, apologetic and reassuring the issue will be resolved.
  3. Be personal. This goes along with being human. When responding to someone, use their first name. If they have a picture of their dog in their profile picture, comment on how cute it is (if appropriate for the situation). If the customer writes about how they love the product they bought, look the customer up in your database to learn exactly what product they purchased and thank them for that specifically.

    Some companies choose to “sign” all of their responses to make it even more personal, like you are responding as a friend. For example: “Thank you so much for your comment, John! We are glad you enjoyed your dinner at our Cincinnati location.  – Jane, customer service”
  4. Be accurate. While you’ll want to respond quickly, you also want to ensure accuracy. Providing inaccurate information to a customer because you are hurrying through a response will cause even bigger problems. For example, if you don’t accept returns, don’t ask the customer to bring the product to their local store. Or, don’t give the customer a discount code for 15% off the whole store if it only applies to certain products.

    Don’t be afraid to tell them you are looking into an answer or resolution and will get back to them as soon as possible. Especially if you have to go to someone else or another department for the answer, this could take some time. Still make sure to let the customer know you are working on finding them an answer, but don’t make up an answer just for the sake of responding.

    Or, if the response is too complicated, ask them to call your customer service because it may be easier to discuss over the phone.
  1. Don’t fear negativity. We’ve all cringed at a complaint on a business social media page. When they have a keyboard to hide behind, some customers can be brutal. One important thing to remember is – unless it’s violent, discriminatory, threatening, or exposing of someone’s personal information, don’t hide or delete it. This makes it seem like you’re hiding something. Not every company is perfect.

    The important thing is to embrace the complaints and criticism, and show the rest of your customers you take these comments and your customer service seriously. For every one unhappy customer, you potentially have dozens of happy ones. While the unhappy are more likely to take to Facebook to complain, use it as an opportunity to humanize your brand, publicly resolve issues, and show the importance of customer service to your company.
  2. Don’t be defensive. This goes along with #6. It’s important to remember that the customer, even when they are angry or frustrated, took time to reach out to you. Intentionally or not, they gave you the opportunity to publicly remedy the situation.

    Thank them for bringing the issue or concern to your attention, acknowledge them, and apologize for how they are feeling and the trouble they have experienced. Be sincere, and if you can, offer a solution.

    That being said, don’t engage with a customer who is out to argue. Sometimes, it’s ok to be silent after your initial comment. If they continue to argue or defame your brand, at some point they will damage their own credibility instead of yours.
  3. Follow through. If someone has a complaint and you direct them to contact you offline, but they never do, make sure to follow up with them. Write again on your comment string asking them to reach out to you because you want to make sure their issues were resolved because you value them as a customer.

    If they ask you a question and you respond, follow up a couple of days later and ask if they were able to resolve their issue or if your response answered their question. Thankfully, everything you post online is there forever, so you should be able to go back and continue interacting with the person if necessary.
  4. Be proactive. Thanks to the immediacy of social media, you can communicate to your customers faster than ever. Where before a company would have to send a direct mail piece, or put together an email, you can now reach your audience in just seconds.

    If you have exciting news about your company, use social media to announce it.

    If you have a product recall, a news event, or something that could negatively affect current customers, you should immediately communicate via social media to announce it, answer as many questions as possible up front, and provide a solution.

    Because you have the ability, you should take advantage of reaching your customers before they hear about things happening through someone else, rumor, or the media. Even if it’s something negative, they will respect your honestly and willingness to be up-front about the situation.
  5. Ask for feedback. If a customer says they went to one of your store or restaurant locations, ask them what they thought. If someone bought your product online, inquire how their experience was and if they could, what would they do to improve? The immediacy and ability for a two-way feedback loop can help you improve your organization and processes with recommendations directly from your customers.

    Some companies even ask their followers for input on new products or services. Maybe you need a name for your new craft beer. Or, you are debating whether to roll out quarter zip hoodies or baseball tees on your clothing website. Maybe you are deciding which color to paint your restaurant’s dining room.

    By involving your audience, they feel like they are building a relationship with your business. This makes them feel more inclined to visit your location or purchase from you, because they feel like they have a say in your decision making.
  6. Track (almost) everything. This is especially important if you are responding to a complaint. Whether you track it in a Word or Excel document, save screenshots of the conversation, or use another form of tracking, it’s important to log what is said to you and what you say back. While you don’t have to track every emoji, GIF or thumbs up, you should track priority criteria. This includes:
  • Direct technical or account-related questions
  • Customer complaints
  • Service or product requests that are urgent
  • Issues that affect many users or raise a potential PR crisis
  • Specific references to products or services
  • Specific positive feedback
  • Touch-base comments to those who have made comments or complaints about your brand in the past. This can help you for a number of reasons:
    • If you are working with a customer to resolve an issue, you’ll want complete documentation in case it escalates farther than social media. It can also serve as a reminder to follow up with that person online once the issue is resolved, or if they never are in touch with you.
    • If you are working with a customer complaint, you should be able to easily to back and reference if you’ve had complaints from this customer before. This may help determine how to resolve the issue or interact with the customer.
    • For positive comments or feedback, you should keep them to share with upper management or team members. Especially if a particular team member is written about, you will want share with them and/or their supervisor.
    • For technical or service issues, you’ll want a reference so you can prevent them from happening in the future. Or if they do happen again, you can find a permanent solution.
    • For customer service issues, you should have documentation when you go to the employee or their manager. It’s important to have proof when dealing with an HR concern.
  1. Be consistent. If you’re going to make it a practice to always to respond to both positive and negative comments, do that. If you are going to have your social rep use their name when they are commenting on posts, always use their name. If you have a dedicated phone number or email for customer service, always use the same number. If you want to deal with complaints either via private message or by them calling a phone number, use the same way each time.

    The brand consistency is important for your audience.
  2. Remember, social customer service is customer service. Just because it’s a different platform than traditional customer service doesn’t mean that customer service norms should go out the window. A perfect customer service response will:
  • Correctly identify the issue or problem.
  • Solve the issue or problem if possible, but also provide links to additional informationwhen applicable.
  • Close the loop (even if you’re just saying ‘thank you’).
  • Include a personal touch, such as signing off with the agent’s name.
  • Be consistent across the organization, especially in regards to brand, tone and response time.

Examples of Responses

COMPLAINTS

  • Hi John. We are so sorry to hear you had this experience at one of our stores. We work hard to ensure every customer has a positive experience, and we want to make this right. Please send us a private message so we can resolve this problem. Thank you!
  • Good morning Kathy! We are sorry to hear you are not completely satisfied with your purchase. Please feel free to return it – shipping on us. Private message us your email and we will send you a link to print a free return label. We will also send you a 15% off coupon for your next purchase. Please let us know if there’s anything else we can do! Thank you!
  • Jennifer – thank you for bringing this to our attention. We are very sorry to hear you had this experience and will be looking into the event to resolve it and work diligently to ensure it doesn’t happen again in the future.
  • Thank you for your comment, Rachel. We want to work with you to address your concerns. Please private message us your phone number and the best time to call you and we will reach out to you soon.

COMMENTS

  • Thanks for the comment, Sean! We love hearing from our customers!
  • We are THRILLED to hear you loved your new [product]! We are always updating our inventory, so make sure you check back on our website for new products!
  • Thank you for your business, Michelle! We love our loyal customers. In fact, next time you are in the store show them this comment to get 15% off your total purchase!
  • Thank you for the retweet, Janet! Have a great weekend!

QUESTIONS

  • Hello, Shelly. We know health insurance is complicated, and can be different for everyone depending on your individual scenario. We would love to talk to you and answer all of your questions – feel free to give us a call at [phone number] to speak to one of our customer service representatives! Have a great day! – Susie, customer service rep.
  • Hi Joe! Thank you for your question. Business hours are Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. and Saturday 12 p.m. – 5 p.m. We are closed on Sunday. Hope to see you soon!
  • Good afternoon, Julie! You can return your product to any of our store locations during regular business hours. Please make sure to bring your receipt! Or, you can print a return shipping label off of our website and send it back through the mail. For more information on how to do this, visit [website URL]. Or, call our customer service department at [phone number].
  • Hi Jessica – thanks for your question. To best protect your information, please send a private message with your name, member ID, phone number and the best time to reach you and we will have a representative call you at your earliest convenience.

What is Social Listening?

Part of your customer service strategy online should include social listening.

Social listening is not just monitoring your social media pages for comments and direct messages. It’s about researching and tracking conversations around specific topics, keywords, phrases, brands or industries, and then using those learnings to create content for your audience.

Customers and prospects are likely talking about your brand and products on a variety of channels, not just posting directly to you on your Facebook page. By using social listening, you can track your overall brand health, create content your audience is interested in, improve your customer experience and drive product strategy.

Just one negative comment or review can be looked at on a case-by-case basis. But a variety of the same type of complaints or reviews represents a trend. If you are not actively monitoring for your brand online, you may miss these trends.

When you are “listening,” look for content trends, pain points and related phrases. Learn about what sentiment customers and prospects have towards your brand. Look for trends in your industry and with your competitors to build off of and find new opportunities. Some tools you can use for social listening are: