Social media isn’t just a place where customers can vent about, “like” or “follow” you. It’s an incredible vehicle for getting more customer referrals.
In an attempt to quickly ramp up the number of Facebook friends and Twitter followers many companies overlook opportunities to gain new business and loyal customers, says Ron Kaufman, author of Uplifting Service: The Proven Path to Delighting Your Customers, Your Colleagues and Everyone Else You Meet.
Try these four tactics to get customers to do more than wait for discounts or vent about a mistake on your business’ social media channels:
- Make it easy. If you want them to write reviews or comments, give customers links to review sites, blogs or your Facebook page on all correspondence with them. Invite them to click the link and write away.
- Say thanks. Stop short of giving incentives to customers who write positive reviews (then no one can take them as 100% honest). But do thank them for doing it. Say: “Thank you so much for spreading the word. As one of our happy customers, when you tell other people about us, it helps us grow and serve you better” or “Your voice counts. Thank you so much for spreading the word. You make us love what we do.”
- Encourage one-on-one reviews. There’s no better way to motivate employees than with personal customer praise. United Airlines recently introduced an app that allows its most loyal customers to commend and praise employees in real time. Give your customers space on your social media outlets to commend individual agents, too.
- Encourage questions on your social media outlets. If customers can post their questions on your sites, others can see how professional and knowledgeable your agents are when they answer them. Plus, the posted questions and answers may divert other questions from coming into the contact center.
