Social media customer service evolves every day. Are you ready for — or better yet, ahead of — the latest trends?
Customers and competitors are savvier than ever when they use social media to interact with your company.
“Social media may well be the most potent customer channel there is today,” says Paul Johns, chief marketing officer of Conversocial. “It’s a connection between brands and consumers — as well as amongst consumers themselves — that is public and pervasive.”
As companies offer more help on social media, and customers take advantage of it, some practices are becoming more common place.
Here are three you want to be ready to handle:
1. Postnapping
Some customers realize that companies want to impress in the very public eye of social media. So companies might give customers who’ve had problems, then report them over social media, free things to make up for an issue. Postnapping customers know that and might amplify a small or non-existent issue, attempting to get free stuff, according to Johns.
Be ready: Continue to resolve issues — and on occasion give deserving customers an upgrade, product, discount, etc. — in social media. But watch for serial complainers. Offer to take their issues (and any that are sensitive or complex) offline to resolve more privately.
2. Tweetaging
As many as 20% of Twitter complaints start with a gripe about another channel, Johns says. And the biggest culprit is the phone. Customers are Tweetaging when they post something on Facebook or Twitter while they’re on a telephone hold with the company. More so, they often get the issue resolved or question answered on social media while they remain on hold, jamming up two communication channels at one time.
Be ready: Put your resources where your customers are. When you recognize that they’re using social media more often, it’s time to add or redirect more employees to respond on the social media platforms. From there, post your response times for each channel — social media, email, phone, etc. — where customers can see them. That way, customers can make a decision on how they want to contact you based on how fast they need something.
3. Brandjacking
Your competitors might be using this social media trick on you. Brandjackers have reps checking out their competitors’ social media sites, watching for complaints. When they see one, and a delayed response from the company, they jump in, offering some empathy and an alternative solution to the issue — provided by them, of course.
Be ready: If you’re going to offer social media customer care, you need to staff so someone is ready to respond to customers within a minute. That’s the time frame they expect. If it’s much more than that, customers will get frustrated and competitors can swoop in.
