Customer service is no longer just 800 numbers and emails that we send out when customers ask us a question. Customer service now uses social media in a big way to engage with those that matter to your business. When you use social media, you have to answer questions and concerns, and at times deal with the rants of various people. This requires a new set of skills to ensure that your customers and clients are treated in the best way possible. Social media sometimes requires you to fix problems quickly or respond to negative feedback in a constructive way. Here’s how you can make the most of social media to ensure that your customers are getting the best service possible.
How Your Business Should Respond To Customers On Social Media
Make Sure You Dedicate Resources to It
You need to dedicate resources to social media to keep on top of your business development and presence on these sites. You may have several employees who have the sole responsibility of looking after your social media accounts if you have a large business. It can take a lot of resources if you have to do some sort of damage control when you have problems with a customer and they decide to vent on social media. You need employees that can handle these difficult people and smooth things over without getting into a rant themselves as you want to be as professional as possible. If others see that you can handle problem customers well, they are going to be more responsive to you. This is important as it pertains to how to respond to customers on social media.
Be Quick to Respond
You want to be able to respond to issues quickly when you use social media as you don’t want to leave things for days because this makes your company look bad. When you respond quickly this helps put your customer’s minds at ease and make them feel like you care about them which can go a long way towards fixing an issue. You will create trust with your customers if you are able to respond quickly and address those pressing concerns they have.
Announce Problems
If your business knows of an issue, don’t cover it up as people will find out anyway. If you have an issue, use social media to address it and to let customers know you are aware of the problem and are doing what it takes to correct the issues as soon as possible. This shows people you care and are taking the steps to fix the issues which helps establish that trust you need with customers.
Complaints Are Valuable
One thing social media does is it helps you address problems right away. If someone has a complaint and they go on social media to announce it, don’t dismiss this complaint. Listen to the complaint and assure the customer you are doing what it takes to fix that concern they have. A complaint is an opportunity for your business to get better. Yes, you should respond to customers on social media even if it involves complaints.
Use Handles
If you have various departments, then use handles on-site such as Twitter to deal with specific problems. For, example you might have sales problems, website problems, and so on. Let customers know which people they should contact if they have a concern. This helps you sort through issues in a logical way. Make sure each handle has its own personality too behind the handle you want to make your customers feel like they are important, and they should be.
Social media is a great tool for your business to interact with customers and provide them with customer service so use it in the right way. Try to dedicate a team to social media to respond to your clients and customers as they will thank you for it. No matter what, always make sure you respond to customers on social media!