[[{"@context":"http:\/\/schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2020\/07\/28\/social-media-customer-service-best\/#Article","articleBody":"It seems like ages ago: When you needed customer service, the phone was the only way to reach a company quickly. Today, leading brands respond to questions, requests, and complaints on social media channels like Twitter and Facebook. Many of us turn to social media for customer service; some even consider it the best avenue for getting problems resolved.\nNow, with service orgs struggling to transition to work from home and people using social more during the pandemic crisis, this trend is bound to grow. Reports indicate that people are spending more time on social media platforms in the past few months as they seek out communication while holed up at home.\nCombine increased social media usage with the fact that people need customer service more than ever, and it\u2019s clear that companies need to make social media customer service a priority \u2013 especially as folks start shopping more and more via social commerce; it\u2019s only natural that they\u2019d expect service to be available on social, too.\nGiven the sprawling nature of social media with all its channels and 24\u00d77 operation, this can seem daunting. Here are some best practices to ensure that your social media customer service strategy is effective. Your customers get what they need, and your brand shines.\n \nCustomer support: Humans vs. the machines\n In a customer support model, how does artificial intelligence stack up to human intelligence? Here, we explore how AI can benefit customer service, but also where it falls short. \nSocial media customer service: Best practices to foster loyalty and growth\nFind your customers: The first step is to learn what social sites your customers use. While Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn are popular, your customers may favor other sites such as Instagram, YouTube, TripAdvisor, or TikTok. This will help you focus your efforts amid the vast sea of social media and inform your social media customer service strategy.\nListen to your customers: There are a lot of tools that help monitor social sites for brand mentions and keywords related to your business, but it\u2019s also important to analyze what people are saying about your company. This \u201csocial listening\u201d helps you understand what kind of issues customers are raising on social media and what they need. With this kind of analysis, you can catch when customers talk about your company without mentioning your brand, and proactively respond.\nHave a plan: Once you have an idea of what people are saying about your brand, you can develop guidelines for what you will prioritize and how you will respond. There should be guidelines for responding to complaints and common questions, an escalation plan, when to take an issue offline, and what kind of offers your company might be willing to provide to unhappy customers. Keep in mind that there is a ton of noise on social media; the plan needs to provide clear guidance so the team avoids getting mired in incendiary social trolling.\nRespond promptly: Your customers can post to social media at all hours, so you\u2019ll need to keep up. According to a study by Facebook, 61% of people in the US expect a faster response through social messaging than if they used traditional means of communication like phone. If your resources can\u2019t scale to 24\u00d77 social customer service, an option might be to provide an immediate standard response via a chatbot indicating that you\u2019ve seen their issue and are working on it. Then make sure to follow up on the promise.\nBe human: While automated tools can help for certain tasks, it\u2019s important to maintain the human element in working with customers on social channels. Customers today expect personalization, and social media communications are no exception. Engaging with them at a human level \u2013 acknowledging mistakes, showing compassion, and forgoing stiff corporate-speak \u2013 will go a long way in building customer trust and loyalty.\nBe consistent: As you respond to customers on social media, make sure your tone of voice accurately represents your brand and is consistent across channels. Your social media persona should represent your brand values and beliefs and use language accordingly. Snarky or sophisticated, it\u2019s important to remain classy and always take the high road.\nTake the bad with the good: The harsh reality is that people are quick to take to a social platform to complain, often with hashtags attached to the word fail. You can\u2019t ignore the bad stuff, or go on the defensive. Responding quickly to diagnose the problem and if necessary, fixing it, will protect your brand. Customers want to be heard and the right response will put your brand on top. And of course, make the most of positive feedback. Naturally, always thank them, and then consider other ways to engage and make customers smile.\nTrain your team: Providing customer service on social media requires skill and tact. Depending on your organization and which employees are handling social service, you may want to consider ways to provide training. Cross-training may be essential so that social media and customer service teams are on the same page. Regular meetings to exchange ideas and information will encourage collaboration and foster consistency.\nMeasure your efforts: Track the impact of your social media customer service in order to understand what\u2019s working and areas that need improvement. You can analyze a variety of data points such as service response times, the number of service conversations or tickets, and customer satisfaction.\nAdapt: Social media is always evolving, with new platforms suddenly the hottest thing while older ones fade into the sunset. (Remember MySpace?) Moreover, social sites are constantly changing their formats and requirements; for example, Twitter used to limit the number of characters in messages to 140 characters (280 characters are now allowed). You need to keep on top of what platforms your customers favor, as well as the changing rules of the various sites.\n \nMobile customer service: SMS tools, chatbots, and global social platforms\n Mobile customer service is about helping the 48% of US consumers that browse the web from mobile devices at any given moment.\u00a0It\u2019s about text message SMS, Facebook Messenger, Instagram DMs, chatbots and more. \nTime to act\nFor brands that are already using social platforms for customer service, it\u2019s a matter of stepping up the efforts and making sure they\u2019re effectively meeting customer needs during this time of crisis. For others who haven\u2019t paid attention to their customers on social, it\u2019s time to face the facts.\nWhile individual social media platforms may come and go, social media isn\u2019t going away, especially now when it offers an important means of communication for an isolated population. Customers will remember the brands they could trust during the crisis.\nDon\u2019t leave your customers in the dark. Light the path to loyalty with great customer service. \ud83d\udca1Discover the ROI\u00a0HERE.\ud83d\udca1","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2020\/07\/28\/social-media-customer-service-best\/#Article_Person","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2020\/07\/28\/social-media-customer-service-best\/#Article_Person_ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/23x6xj3o92m9361dbu2ij362-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Marcia_Yusavage-150x150.jpg"},"name":"Marcia Savage","sameAs":["https:\/\/twitter.com\/marciasavage?lang=en","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/marcia-savage-9489411\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/contributor\/marcia-yusavage\/"},"dateModified":"2021-08-04T18:37:08+00:00","datePublished":"2020-07-28T07:00:02+00:00","description":"A social media customer service strategy boosts customer engagement, loyalty, and trust by being there when, and where, your customers need 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media customer service: Best practices to foster loyalty and growth","acceptedAnswer":[{"@type":"Answer","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2020\/07\/28\/social-media-customer-service-best\/#subjectOf_FAQPage_mainEntity0_acceptedAnswer_Answer","text":"
  • Find your customers: <\/strong>The first step is to learn what social sites your customers use. While Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn are popular, your customers may favor other sites such as Instagram, YouTube, TripAdvisor, or TikTok. This will help you focus your efforts amid the vast sea of social media and inform your social media customer service strategy.<\/li>
  • Listen to your customers: <\/strong>There are a lot of tools that help monitor social sites for brand mentions and keywords related to your business, but it\u2019s also important to analyze what people are saying about your company. This \u201csocial listening\u201d helps you understand what kind of issues customers are raising on social media and what they need. With this kind of analysis, you can catch when customers talk about your company without mentioning your brand, and proactively respond.<\/li>
  • Have a plan: <\/strong>Once you have an idea of what people are saying about your brand, you can develop guidelines for what you will prioritize and how you will respond. There should be guidelines for responding to complaints and common questions, an escalation plan, when to take an issue offline, and what kind of offers your company might be willing to provide to unhappy customers. Keep in mind that there is a ton of noise on social media; the plan needs to provide clear guidance so the team avoids getting mired in incendiary social trolling.<\/li>
  • Respond promptly: <\/strong>Your customers can post to social media at all hours, so you\u2019ll need to keep up. According to a study by Facebook<\/a>, 61% of people in the US expect a faster response through social messaging than if they used traditional means of communication like phone. If your resources can\u2019t scale to 24\u00d77 social customer service, an option might be to provide an immediate standard response via a chatbot<\/a> indicating that you\u2019ve seen their issue and are working on it. Then make sure to follow up on the promise.<\/li>
  • Be human: <\/strong>While automated tools can help for certain tasks, it\u2019s important to maintain the human element in working with customers on social channels. Customers today expect personalization, and social media communications are no exception. Engaging with them at a human level \u2013 acknowledging mistakes, showing compassion, and forgoing stiff corporate-speak \u2013 will go a long way in building customer trust and loyalty.<\/li>
  • Be consistent: <\/strong>As you respond to customers on social media, make sure your tone of voice accurately represents your brand and is consistent across channels<\/a>. Your social media persona should represent your brand values and beliefs and use language accordingly. Snarky or sophisticated, it\u2019s important to remain classy and always take the high road.<\/li>
  • Take the bad with the good: <\/strong>The harsh reality is that people are quick to take to a social platform to complain, often with hashtags attached to the word fail. You can\u2019t ignore the bad stuff, or go on the defensive. Responding quickly to diagnose the problem and if necessary, fixing it, will protect your brand. Customers want to be heard and the right response will put your brand on top. And of course, make the most of positive feedback. Naturally, always thank them, and then consider other ways to engage and make customers smile.<\/li>
  • Train your team: <\/strong>Providing customer service on social media requires skill and tact. Depending on your organization and which employees are handling social service, you may want to consider ways to provide training. Cross-training may be essential so that social media and customer service teams are on the same page. Regular meetings to exchange ideas and information will encourage collaboration and foster consistency.<\/li>
  • Measure your efforts: <\/strong>Track the impact of your social media customer service in order to understand what\u2019s working and areas that need improvement. You can analyze a variety of data points such as service response times, the number of service conversations or tickets, and customer satisfaction.<\/li>
  • Adapt: <\/strong>Social media is always evolving, with new platforms suddenly the hottest thing while older ones fade into the sunset. (Remember MySpace?) Moreover, social sites are constantly changing their formats and requirements; for example, Twitter used to limit the number of characters in messages to 140 characters (280 characters are now allowed). You need to keep on top of what platforms your customers favor, as well as the changing rules of the various sites.<\/li> "}]},{"@type":"Question","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2020\/07\/28\/social-media-customer-service-best\/#subjectOf_FAQPage_mainEntity1","name":"Time to act","acceptedAnswer":[{"@type":"Answer","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2020\/07\/28\/social-media-customer-service-best\/#subjectOf_FAQPage_mainEntity1_acceptedAnswer_Answer","text":"For brands that are already using social platforms for customer service, it\u2019s a matter of stepping up the efforts and making sure they\u2019re effectively meeting customer needs during this time of crisis. For others who haven\u2019t paid attention to their customers on social, it\u2019s time to face the facts<\/a>.While individual social media platforms may come and go, social media isn\u2019t going away, especially now when it offers an important means of communication for an isolated population. Customers will remember the brands they could trust during the crisis."}]}]}],"image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2020\/07\/28\/social-media-customer-service-best\/#Article_image_ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/social-media-customer-service-1-1200x630.jpg","width":"1200","height":"630"}],"mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2020\/07\/28\/social-media-customer-service-best\/","articleBody":" It seems like ages ago: When you needed customer service, the phone was the only way to reach a company quickly. Today, leading brands respond to questions, requests, and complaints on social media channels like Twitter and Facebook. Many of us turn to social media for customer service; some even consider it the best avenue for getting problems resolved. Now, with service orgs struggling to transition to work from home and people using social more during the pandemic crisis, this trend is bound to grow. Reports indicate that people are spending more time on social media platforms in the past few months as they seek out communication while holed up at home. Combine increased social media usage with the fact that people need customer service more than ever, and it\u2019s clear that companies need to make social media customer service a priority \u2013 especially as folks start shopping more and more via social commerce; it\u2019s only natural that they\u2019d expect service to be available on social, too. Given the sprawling nature of social media with all its channels and 24\u00d77 operation, this can seem daunting. Here are some best practices to ensure that your social media customer service strategy is effective. Your customers get what they need, and your brand shines. Customer support: Humans vs. the machines In a customer support model, how does artificial intelligence stack up to human intelligence? Here, we explore how AI can benefit customer service, but also where it falls short. Social media customer service: Best practices to foster loyalty and growth Find your customers: The first step is to learn what social sites your customers use. While Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn are popular, your customers may favor other sites such as Instagram, YouTube, TripAdvisor, or TikTok. This will help you focus your efforts amid the vast sea of social media and inform your social media customer service strategy. Listen to your customers: There are a lot of tools that help monitor social sites for brand mentions and keywords related to your business, but it\u2019s also important to analyze what people are saying about your company. This \u201csocial listening\u201d helps you understand what kind of issues customers are raising on social media and what they need. With this kind of analysis, you can catch when customers talk about your company without mentioning your brand, and proactively respond. Have a plan: Once you have an idea of what people are saying about your brand, you can develop guidelines for what you will prioritize and how you will respond. There should be guidelines for responding to complaints and common questions, an escalation plan, when to take an issue offline, and what kind of offers your company might be willing to provide to unhappy customers. Keep in mind that there is a ton of noise on social media; the plan needs to provide clear guidance so the team avoids getting mired in incendiary social trolling. Respond promptly: Your customers can post to social media at all hours, so you\u2019ll need to keep up. According to a study by Facebook, 61% of people in the US expect a faster response through social messaging than if they used traditional means of communication like phone. If your resources can\u2019t scale to 24\u00d77 social customer service, an option might be to provide an immediate standard response via a chatbot indicating that you\u2019ve seen their issue and are working on it. Then make sure to follow up on the promise. Be human: While automated tools can help for certain tasks, it\u2019s important to maintain the human element in working with customers on social channels. Customers today expect personalization, and social media communications are no exception. Engaging with them at a human level \u2013 acknowledging mistakes, showing compassion, and forgoing stiff corporate-speak \u2013 will go a long way in building customer trust and loyalty. Be consistent: As you respond to customers on social media, make sure your tone of voice accurately represents your brand and is consistent across channels. Your social media persona should represent your brand values and beliefs and use language accordingly. Snarky or sophisticated, it\u2019s important to remain classy and always take the high road. Take the bad with the good: The harsh reality is that people are quick to take to a social platform to complain, often with hashtags attached to the word fail. You can\u2019t ignore the bad stuff, or go on the defensive. Responding quickly to diagnose the problem and if necessary, fixing it, will protect your brand. Customers want to be heard and the right response will put your brand on top. And of course, make the most of positive feedback. Naturally, always thank them, and then consider other ways to engage and make customers smile. Train your team: Providing customer service on social media requires skill and tact. Depending on your organization and which employees are handling social service, you may want to consider ways to provide training. Cross-training may be essential so that social media and customer service teams are on the same page. Regular meetings to exchange ideas and information will encourage collaboration and foster consistency. Measure your efforts: Track the impact of your social media customer service in order to understand what\u2019s working and areas that need improvement. You can analyze a variety of data points such as service response times, the number of service conversations or tickets, and customer satisfaction. Adapt: Social media is always evolving, with new platforms suddenly the hottest thing while older ones fade into the sunset. (Remember MySpace?) Moreover, social sites are constantly changing their formats and requirements; for example, Twitter used to limit the number of characters in messages to 140 characters (280 characters are now allowed). You need to keep on top of what platforms your customers favor, as well as the changing rules of the various sites. Mobile customer service: SMS tools, chatbots, and global social platforms Mobile customer service is about helping the 48% of US consumers that browse the web from mobile devices at any given moment. It\u2019s about text message SMS, Facebook Messenger, Instagram DMs, chatbots and more. Time to act For brands that are already using social platforms for customer service, it\u2019s a matter of stepping up the efforts and making sure they\u2019re effectively meeting customer needs during this time of crisis. For others who haven\u2019t paid attention to their customers on social, it\u2019s time to face the facts. While individual social media platforms may come and go, social media isn\u2019t going away, especially now when it offers an important means of communication for an isolated population. Customers will remember the brands they could trust during the crisis. Don\u2019t leave your customers in the dark. Light the path to loyalty with great customer service. \ud83d\udca1Discover the ROI HERE.\ud83d\udca1   ","name":"Social media customer service: Top 10 best practices","dateModified":"2021-08-04T18:37:08+00:00","datePublished":"2020-07-28T07:00:02+00:00","headline":"Social media customer service: Top 10 best practices","description":"A social media customer service strategy boosts customer engagement, loyalty, and trust by being there when, and where, your customers need you."}],{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"2020","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2020\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"07","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2020\/\/07\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"28","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2020\/\/07\/\/28\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Social media customer service: Top 10 best practices","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2020\/07\/28\/social-media-customer-service-best\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]