05 Aug People are turning to Social Media for customer service. How fast do you reply?

How does your business use your social media accounts? If you’re like most businesses, you think about attracting new customers, marketing, and branding through Facebook and Twitter. You want to build relationships with your clients and vendors to build your business, but there’s so much more potential to your social media medium. Customers use social media to report problems with a business. How you respond to those complaints will determine if you keep those customers or lose them.

Although you may have phone or email support, most people don’t want to take the time to track down the information and call during business hours. Submitting information through a contact form is impersonal at best, and customers often do not even expect a response because they have no idea who is going to receive the information. Customers want personalized immediacy to their issues, which can be costly for your business to provide.

Why Do People Turn to Social Media?

When your customer gets upset, they want to be heard. If they’re just looking for an answer to a question, they want it now. No one wants to wait which is indicative of the microwave society in today’s world. Social media is more immediate. Expectations for social media is very different from the expectations of email or phone. In a recent study, most people expect your business to respond in 60 minutes or less when they use social media.

Why You Should Care About Answering Your Customers on Social Media

Customer service through social media lets you personalize your brand and the experience of your customers. Instead of going through a phone menu to try and get to a person who can help, your customer asks a question, then gets an answer. It’s a great method to make customers have control and to provide transparency. Potential customers see the transaction and know that you will answer questions promptly. It also encourages more mentions of your brand online, which increases your presence. Not answering questions and complaints may also provide more publicity, but in a negative light. When you provide customer service through social media, you proactively manage your image. Users who reach out to you through social media are more likely to talk about your company.

With social media, follow-up is quick and easy. You can always send a personal note to the customer, but Facebook and Twitter allow you to demonstrate your commitment to providing excellent customer service. It might be overwhelming at first, and you may make some mistakes. In your industry there may be regulatory issues that you have to work around. But the long-term benefits far outweigh the challenges. When you engage with your customers, they will engage with you. If you don’t respond, they will find a business that will. Don’t lose out by ignoring social media. Reply quickly and keep your customers coming back again and again. Contact Blast Creative if you are interested in our Social Media Marketing Services.

If you are a business owner in any of these genres, financial, photographers, dentists, hotels, restaurants, construction, HVAC, hardware stores, real estate, or any business owner and want more information on Internet Marketing, please contact Blast Creative today!