How Social Media Has Changed Customer Service [For The Better]
Updated: Sep 30, 2022
Like many other things, social media has changed the way many companies provide customer service. Today social media plays a crucial role in connecting users to agents quickly and securely. Many times we see this through Facebook messenger or even iMessage from Apple. It provides a unique yet efficient way for companies to privately message their customers.
What is social media customer service?
Social media customer service is a system of providing customer support through social media platforms. This involves activities like addressing complaints, providing guidance, answering questions, or issuing refunds. The primary goal of social media customer service is to give clients an easy and enjoyable customer experience that helps retain and grow your business.
Before diving into social media customer service, the main takeaway from this article is about serving customers through social media servicing. If customers are having a hard time working with the newly adopted social media service, then the goal of the platform has failed.
Implementing these techniques can be a tough feat, but so is digital marketing.
We often forget that small businesses need some form of customer service, and one of the best ways to do it is through free, easy-to-use platforms like social media. But, without a good-looking social media account and online presence, you may not want to put your business out there.
One of the best things to do is run a digital marketing campaign for social media. It will help make your account more professional looking, and you can even brand it to your business!
What are the benefits of social media customer service?
In it, we discuss the reasons why customer service via social media is beneficial for both customers and businesses.
Social media customer service is easy for both customers and companies: Customer service via social media is easy because it doesn't require an in-person interaction with a representative. This makes it ideal for busy customers who don't have time to wait on hold or visit a physical store.
It's beneficial for both customers and businesses: By providing modern customer service through social media, businesses can keep their customers happy and loyal while also reducing costs associated with traditional customer service solutions such as phone calls or visits to stores.
Through social media, you can engage more deeply with your customers, learn about their preferences and needs, and provide them with valuable insights into your business.
Social media is highly cost-effective: With social media, you can easily reach a large number of people for minimal cost.
You can gain new customers through social media: If you don't have a presence on social media, you may be missing out on opportunities to attract new customers and engage with those who are already loyal to your brand.
You can get valuable insights about your brand through social media: By using Twitter or Facebook as an outlet for customer feedback or market research, you can better understand what matters most to your customers and make sure that all aspects of the customer experience are top-notch.
Social Media provides personalized insight into customer behavior: By monitoring how users interact with specific posts or pages on social networks over time, businesses are able to glean insightful information about user trends (including likes/dislikes) as well as individual behaviors (such as purchasing history).
What are some best practices for social media customer service?
Social media customer service has come a long way in recent years. With the advent of platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, businesses have been able to connect with their customers like never before. However, with this new level of connection comes a new set of challenges.
To ensure that your social media customer service is up to par, there are a few best practices you should keep in mind. First and foremost, you should have a plan for every move you make. Every social media platform is different, so it's important to tailor your approach to each one.
It's also important to apply best practices in social media customer service. This means being responsive to customers, handling complaints quickly and efficiently, and providing valuable information without being too sales-y.
Finally, you should avoid the adverse effects of poor implementation. This means making sure your team is properly trained on social media protocol and that you have systems in place to track and respond to customer issues swiftly.
By following these best practices, you can be sure that your social media customer service is top notch and that your customers will be happy with their experience interacting with your business online.
What are some trends in social media customer service?
One of the biggest customer service trends on social media platforms is automation. Automation can help businesses keep up with the demand for customer service without sacrificing quality or straining resources. This is a must-have for any growing business active on social media.
Another customer service trend that businesses should consider is a well-rounded approach. This approach includes automation but also includes human interaction to solve customer issues. This provides a more personal touch that can often be more effective in resolving problems.
Social Media Customer Experience
As the rise in social media customer service continues across multiple industries, one thing to note is the customer experience throughout this journey.
As we know, if the customers cant easily utilize the new features and communication methods of the companies using social media for customer service, then how do they expect to better their support? Customers will on get even more frustrated, causing a trickle-down effect to fewer sales.
Customer engagement needs to be at the forefront of the experience for both parties. If companies find that customers easily leave without getting the proper feedback they need, maybe because they are distracted by the social media platform, then no one is accomplishing anything.
Customer care is the name of the game and without serving your customers with effective care, social media platforms will not be the solution.
How can you use Facebook Messenger for customer service?
With its easy-to-use interface and many valuable features, it can help reduce the time spent on customer service tasks and create an opportunity to sell exclusive products within the messaging platform.
Facebook Messenger is easy to use: You don't need any special skills or knowledge to use Facebook Messenger; just sign into your account and start taking orders, booking appointments, or receiving payments.
It's convenient for customers: Customers love being able to buy products directly from their Facebook messages or comments, making it easier than ever before.
It's confidential: As with all private conversations on Facebook, messages between you and your customers are confidential.
You can respond privately: If a customer makes a public comment about your product or service on social media, you can respond privately to message them in order to address their concerns more confidentially.
It creates an opportunity for sales: By responding privately to comments customers make publicly about your product or service, you give them the chance to use special offers within messenger that others may not have access to.
Intro hook: Want to use Facebook Messenger for customer service? You can respond to public comments on Instagram or Twitter with a private message, taking the conversation more confidentially.
Private messages are more confidential: Responding privately to comments avoids any potential misunderstandings and keeps the conversation between you and the customer confidential.
Conversations on Facebook Messenger are more efficient: Use Facebook Messenger to get faster answers to basic questions or transfer customers directly to support representatives.
One of the best ways to utilize a platform like Facebook messenger is actually installing a bot to handle a lot of the "top of funnel" questions and concerns that your customers might have.
Check out this article on using bots in social media to see how they are used in other areas to help build a following while also aiding in customer service.
How can you create your own social media customer service strategy?
You can create your own social media customer service strategy by implementing active internal communication channels, building employee value and trust, creating a place for shared feedback, anticipating customer needs, and better educating and informing employees before applying your own social media customer service strategy.
Below are 5 tips for creating a strong social media customer service strategy that will help you better your customer service overall and help your customers even faster than ever before!
1. Activate internal communication channels: Ensure that all employees involved in social customer service are aware of each other and can easily communicate. This will help build trust and collaboration between team members.
2. Build employee value and trust: Employees need to feel valued by the company in order to be motivated to provide excellent customer service. Creating a positive work environment and showing appreciation for a job well done will help build trust between employees and management.
3. Share feedback: Encourage employees to share feedback with each other so that everyone is aware of how customers are feeling and what needs to be improved. This open communication will help the team work together more effectively.
4. Anticipate customer needs: Train employees to anticipate customer needs so that they can provide solutions before problems arise. This proactive approach will save time and frustration for both customers and employees alike.
5. Educate employees on the role of customer service: Employees need to understand the importance of their role in providing excellent customer service. They should be aware of the company’s goals and how their work fits into achieving those goals.
When building out a social media strategy to serve your customers, you should always have a website ready and available as a backup. In some cases, your customers may not have social media for their own reasons. But they still need a way to contact you from time to time.
Having a strong company website is the best way to stay ahead of the game and provide your customers with the information they are inquiring about. Here's how you can improve your company's website's SEO to be easily found in search results.
Social Media Is Changing Customer Service For The Better
While many like to hate on social media, it has played a large role in our society. It allows us to connect with one another easily and securely, even if we are hundreds of miles apart.
This is the same for companies using social media for their customer service. Many companies know that we are already using these social media platforms every day, so they want to make it easier for us to connect with them and solve the problems that were facing.
One of those problems many of us are facing today as business owners is online marketing. If you're interested in learning more about marketing tactics, find out how digital marketing helps small businesses here
That's why at Slaterock, we believe customer service through social media is a great path that many companies will take in the future. There are even services now that can be integrated with Messenger platforms to quickly provide links to support articles for common questions.
This reduces the time spent waiting around for both the company and people like us!