You are thinking about complex marketing strategies, planning thick budgets for online and offline brand promotion, creative activities, watching deadlines, tracking the results of marketing activities and measuring effectiveness – you could say – the everyday life of a marketer, but is it not better to add a bit of color to this gray everyday life and focus on strategies that are easy to implement, have real value for the consumer and that simply work in favor of your brand?
If you run a brand’s promotional activities on social media channels and are looking for inspiration that will help you improve results, I invite you to read. In the entry, I describe customer service standards, good practices that are worth applying in customer service and communication with the customer. Customer service is also a great tool for building customer relationships.
First, consider what your priority is and what you want to achieve by running activities in social media channels. I bet you largely focus on showing the value of your brand, displaying what your business offers, talking about yourself (about the brand).
However, apart from self-promotion, do you devote sufficient attention to what is most important in your work? Are you aware that customers determine the value of your brand and you should focus most on customers? Yes, customers our master!
Good customer service translates into customer satisfaction.
So how do you use the potential of communication in social media channels to provide the client with professional customer service and affect customer satisfaction and the increase in the popularity of your business? I invite you to read.
Customer service: what is it?
Customer Service (Customer Service) is responding to customer needs (conscious and unconscious), using available communication channels in which you are present. Change your mindset from ad hoc problem solving to problem prevention, by anticipating customer needs and responding appropriately. Remember – prevention is better than cure. Providing professional customer service is above all a quick response to the notification.
69% of customers believe that a quick solution to a problem is a key indicator of good service, which in effect is perceived as an invaluable brand value.
Why is customer service so important?
According to the Q2 2019 Sprout Social Index report, 90% of consumers surveyed use social media to communicate with the brand. What’s more, over a third (34.5%) said they prefer social media over traditional channels such as phone and email. Companies that want to provide the customer with positive experiences should consider the response time as one of the key aspects of customer service, each user.
What is the conclusion of this?
Social media channels give you communication potential that you are asking to use in areas related to customer service. Users are increasingly willing to choose digital channels to contact the brand.
Why is customer service important?
Customer service is not a new concept, but providing multi-channel support, including social media, can be a real challenge for both large and small B2B and B2C companies. The game, however, is worth the candle, because professional customer service helps in building relationships, and the user often becomes a brand ambassador and is more likely to reach for the brand’s products and become loyal.
Sometimes the eccentric consumer wants to comment on the quality of interaction with the brand among friends (usually during informal conversations over coffee/beer / etc.), creating organic advertising or anti-advertising of the brand. With this awareness, you can not only increase your sales results but also build a good reputation for your brand and build relationships with customers.
In addition, companies use social media communication because it belongs to more efficient and less formal methods of customer service. You will save not only valuable time but also meet the expectations of your customers by being in the channel in which they are present.
What rules are worth following to satisfy your clients in social media?
The most important thing is not to put sales and customer service on one level. Sales and influence techniques are bad customer service features. This should first and foremost assume the good of the customer, and then sales.
Macro rules for customer service in social media:
First of all, the vigilance of the team taking care of the brand’s social media channels: reflexes and response time is important here. Remember, users expect a response within 4 hours of asking a question.
Secondly, efficient monitoring of emerging content, i.e. awareness of where you are needed: here it will be helpful to use ready-made tools, which allow you to track specific key phrases, e.g. your brand name, industry, etc. and sentiment of expression.
Third, an adequate response to emerging content: here, social media ninja with product/service knowledge and developed communication skills will be invaluable. In addition, you will need a communication strategy that will ensure consistency and customer service standards.
Why is this important?
• 14% of all posts appear at night between 22:00 – 6:00
• 29% of all posts appear on the weekend (Fri 6:00 PM – 6:00 PM)
• 89% of messages from clients shared on social media remain unanswered.
Why is customer service important?
Jeff Bezos, the owner of Amazon, was obsessed with the service of each of his clients from the beginning of his path. Today, Amazon is one of the largest and richest companies in the world. Contact with other people allows you to build loyalty to the brand, product, and this affects almost all areas of business. Customer loyalty in SaaS services reduces, among others churn, which translates into greater profitability of the entire company.
It is also worth knowing that service is important both at the pre-sales and after-sales service stages. The conclusion of the contract (transaction) is only half the way to the heart of the customer. The impact of customer service on customer loyalty is huge. Proper management of the service process is crucial for the company.
Rules affecting the quality of customer service in social media:
• Personalization, not generalization: empathy and matching the tone/style of communication of the client accountant to the client’s communication is important (of course, everything within reason, good taste and in accordance with the brand voice of the brand)
• Respect for the consumer: the use of polite and professional tone of communication is MUST. By answering calmly, with class and respect even to the rudest message from the client, you can change the tone of the client, gain respect and new ambassadors for your brand.
• Informing about the process: if you can answer the client’s question immediately – do it (time!); if you need to consult other employees / you know you need more time to send an adequate answer, please inform the customer. A simple sentence: “I will come back to you with an answer tomorrow afternoon” will be positively received by the customer (after all, nobody likes to be ignored), and you will buy the time needed to find a solution.
• Listening to your clients’ feedback (social listening): Internet monitoring, conscious and critical analysis of opinions, problems or customer complaints can not only be an opportunity for you to improve customer relations but also to improve your product or service. If for some reason you find a dissatisfied customer and the fault is on your side, do not be afraid to admit that you did something wrong and that you will improve it – being human is better than arrogance.
• Freedom of expression and consumer insights: by leaving customers space to express their opinions, you’ll be able to know their point of view, but also identify habits and habits; however, this can help you develop your product/service or improve brand communication.
Internet monitoring, i.e. reflexes, knowledge and a positive attitude
The global trend is this: consumer expectations for product quality and customer service are increasing year by year. There is a growing number of platforms where users communicate, and thus brands face the challenge of identifying the right channels.
This means that consumers are looking for brands that will give them pleasure and trouble-free experience.
We demand everything immediately and effortlessly. Following this modern logic, meeting the needs of consumers becomes the number one rule in business, marketing, and customer service. Thus, having a Facebook profile is no longer enough – customers demand an active presence and be open to taking on challenges, providing information or solving problems here and now.
To efficiently and adequately answer consumer questions and demand, you should ensure that your company has the right number of employees who have knowledge of your product and can communicate it effectively. What did I mean?
Make sure that your customer service team has qualified people with specialist knowledge who can answer your clients’ questions (matching tone and language of communication) as soon as possible (vigilance and reflexes are key here).
https://twitter.com/TomaszDamian/statuses/1039547555024003072An example of a positive mention from a user on Twitter.
Focusing on time, monitoring and resources will be one of the first challenges to ensure excellent customer service in social media. Buy Instagram Followers UK can also help on Instagram. From the perspective of the customer comes with a specific query, e.g. to the Facebook profile of the brand (it can be a question about the specifics of using the product, properties, searching for information, etc.), there is probably nothing more wonderful than receiving an adequate answer to this question within a few minutes, truth?
Summary
As you can see, you don’t need any outlays to make customer service in social media effective and bring measurable benefits. In the form of brand ambassadors, loyal users, or people who sympathize with the brand, recommending it even when they have never bought their product themselves. In the first step, you can start monitoring to check the number of mentions and queries about your brand, and then identify communication channels and be closer to your customers.