How Brands Are Using Social Media For Customer Service

Social media use continues to grow annually. According to this report in the United Kingdom, it is now the most popular form of online activity. Although it’s been mentioned before, it cannot be overstated how essential it is for business owners to have a robust social media presence and strategy.

This may seem like an onerous task, but it actually provides an excellent opportunity for your business to demonstrate first class customer service, and potentially generate new clients. Each social media service will require a different strategy. Your first task, therefore, is to identify which social network your clientele are using and then devise a strategy from there. In terms of customer service, Twitter may be the best solution because it offers a quick and immediate response that others can see. Of course, this assumes your clients use Twitter. It makes no difference how good your social network customer service is if your clients are not using that service.

The Benefits Of Using Twitter For Customer Service

Millions of tweets are broadcast daily, and many consumers have learned that social media provides them with an excellent opportunity to publicly complain about a company. The best companies have used creative solutions to turn a potentially negative situation into a positive. By using the correct tools or settings on Twitter, it is possible to be alerted the second anyone sends out a tweet that mentions your company’s username.

It is crucial to understand that any reaction will, at least initially, happen in full public view. People may even watch the conversation to see how quickly and professionally your company reacts to the tweet. This is where it is essential to have properly trained and professional members of staff monitoring your Twitter account. Even if you eventually take the conversation private via Twitter’s DM feature, your initial conversation will be in the public realm. The perfect outcome would be for the original poster of the tweet to express their satisfaction and gratitude for how your company resolved the problem. This is pure marketing gold- the kind of positive publicity that could be described as priceless.

Employing staff purely to provide Twitter customer service could be significantly cheaper than running a call center. Here are some regular tweets that many companies already successfully use daily online, which could form the basis for your own social media customer service strategy.

1. The Apology Tweet

The reality of doing business is that mistakes happen and things go wrong. Sometimes all an irate customer wants to hear is a simple apology, which in turn will then increase the chances of a positive resolution. Making a public apology is both quick and straightforward, and you will be surprised how quickly it takes the anger out of the situation.

Apple did this when it received backlash from singer Taylor Swift for not paying royalties to artists during the free 3-month trial period. Eddy Cue, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Internet Software and Services, took to twitter to publicly apologize and reverse their stance. “We hear you @taylorswift13 and indie artists. Love, Apple” said one tweet.

2. The Informative Tweet

Has your home internet service ever stopped working? Maybe your courier has been delayed due to unforeseen circumstances. A quick tweet informing people of an ongoing problem can prevent complaints from happening. People get angry and frustrated when they are not kept up to date and have to spend hours on the phone to customer service. Twitter provides a quick, easy and painless way to communicate with all of your followers.

For brands with constantly changing schedules and information, such as an airline, Twitter is a great way to inform people of a specific delay. That’s exactly what JetBlue Airways did: they posted a tweet warning passengers of delays due to a winter storm.

3. The Solution Tweet

People in the modern world, have an ever decreasing attention span. The thought of calling up a store for a stock inquiry, or the answer to a simple question can fill someone with dread. If you can answer simple questions via Twitter without forcing your potential customer to get on the phone, you could quickly and easily close a sale or resolve a problem.

Xbox claims to have the Guinness World Record for “most responsive Twitter feed” due to their expert customer service. Take a look at how with one tweet, Microsoft managed to reply with a solution in just a minute.

Social Media Customer Service

Twitter has the potential to be one of the biggest assets to any company, provided it is used properly. Remember that any tweet your company sends out is like a digital tattoo. Once it has been sent, you lose control over it, and it will remain visible forever, so it is crucial that you employ the right people, who are suitably trained for the role in question.

By following some of the examples above your company will be ahead of the vast majority of your competitors, many of whom simply don’t understand the far-reaching benefits of social media.

For more information on how social media can benefit your digital media strategy, check out Arcalea’s blog today.