Customer service at social networks is now a reality more than consolidated. Many people who have a problem or a question, frequently look for a fast solution using social networks to make customer service queries.

Customer service at social networks: an increasingly demanded service

At first view, it would seem a simple work, not much different than the performance of this function through the telephone. However, it has certain particularities to consider if you want to reach excellence in this field, which is a desirable thing in an economic ecosystem formed with increasingly conscious and demanding consumers. In fact, according to U.S. surveys, 67% of consumers have turned to a brand’s social networks to satisfy their customer service needs.

Offering omnichannel support for B2B and B2C companies through social networks represents a big challenge. Therefore, deciding which social network to be present is essential.

Your customer service team must be available on the social networks where your clients are. According to the 2021´s Social Networking Study, made by IAB Spain, Whatsapp, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube and Twitter are still the social networks that dominate in Spain. Although more and more new networks are getting into the user’s set.

Now we are going to take a tour through the 5 key points to offer a great customer service on social networks.

1. Answer as soon as possible on social networks

Most forms of customer service by phone and email are not usually available 24 hours a day. In contrast, customer service in social networks, which, being available 24 hours a day,
carries implicit the need of being offered immediately.

Consequently, consumers expect a response on social networks in less than 60 minutes. What does it mean? Well, it means that the best strategy to satisfy customers is giving them attention as soon as possible, without wasting a second. To do this, it is useful to optimize, to the millimeter, everything related to customer-company communication. In case of direct messages that require research, you should answer immediately, letting the customer know that the message has been received and he will receive a reply soon.

The thing is that a too long period of time for a response could cause customer´s complaints and they could speak badly about us on their own networks, causing a possible crisis. It can also generate such a dissatisfaction that they will never buy our services or products again, and at the same time, they will not recommend us to their friends and family.

2. Learn to discern which issues should be resolved in public or in private

In this life you can’t please everyone, so it is convenient to be shielded against the inevitable dynamite of some comments and complaints. A good method to do this is to clearly and concisely define the driving of customer service through social media for your company.

Describe which complaints and problems should be solved in a public way. These are usually public comments on social media, mainly Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. After that, you can appoint which issues should be handled privately.

This process is different for each company, but it follows a general framework. Once this is achieved, it only remains for the employee to follow the guidelines to the letter, given that consistency can only strengthen your brand building.

3. Answer to all opinions, questions and comments on social networks

All the posts, reviews and entrances on social networks should be recognized and responded. No one would exaggerate in stating categorically that this is one of the best customer service practices on social networks.

The underlying psychological process is very simple: we not only like to be heard, but when faced with a pressing problem, we find it reassuring to see that other clients have been attended. Leaving in “seen” someone on your feed is equal to shoot yourself in the foot; other customers will see that your company does not take care of them and, in one way or another, this will have a negative impact on your online reputation.

4. Be polite, greet courteously and have a pleasent treatment

If your client’s social profile contains his or her name, don’t doubt to use it with a greeting. A simple “Hello [name]” helps you to get a personal touch, closer, that at the end will make a nicer conversation that at the beggining you were only having to solve a problem.

Y And the same is applicable the other way around. Introduce yourself, say who you are. In other words, havoid any possibility of appearing to be a bot. At the end of your intervention, it is always a good idea to close the conversation with your name or your initials. 

Definitely, the idea is to make the user feels that he/she is being listened to by a real person. In addition, this practice allows the company to see who has responded in case there is a problem with the customer or the matter leaves unsatisfactorily resolved.

5. To bad temper, good words

When we are attacked, our instinct drives us to defend ourselves. The same thing happens when a negative, abusive or even a rude comment about your company is posted: customer service staff on social media may feel inclined to defend themselves.

The old adage that says the customer is always right becomes much more true on the Internet. This is for the simple reason that a customer’s complaint at a store counter stays there, possibly being unheard by other customers. On the Internet, it is all the opposite. If a customer complains, each one of your customers can see it on their respective feeds. 

As a consequence, it is convenient to arm yourself with diplomacy, education and even style in the language, cause people often give more authority to the words of those who know how to express them in a grammatically correct way, exquisite, if it wants. And if we add to this the right dose of nice emojis combined with positivism, we will have solved the situation in a jiffy.

Conclusions

A categorical tracking of these five guidelines, will ensure success, but alone they are not sufficient. Having a software capable of streamlining message management is also vital. Whatsapp and Instagram DM are fine, but if you are pursuing excellence and you have a large volume of work, you would better appeal to a panel that centralizes the chats of the main social networks, such as the one that Livebeep offers. With it, you will save valuable time that you can dedicate with body and soul to customer service on social networks.