Customer Service Through Social Media

Introduction

Social media platforms have become the primary channels for communication and interaction between businesses and customers. It is now important more than ever for businesses to have multiple social media platforms. With this, there needs to be a set group of people to respond to customers in a timely manner and go the extra mile to make sure that their customers are happy. Businesses shouldn’t have generic responses and ignore customer complaints. Let’s discuss all the things that businesses should and shouldn’t do when it comes to customer service on social media.

Responses Back to Customers

Companies that respond promptly to customer questions or complaints demonstrate attentiveness and care. For example, if a customer tweets a question or complaint and receives a helpful response within minutes from the business, it leaves a positive impression. Let’s think about it, if you weren’t happy about a product or merchandise or an event and you went to write a complaint to the business, you would want them to answer you back right away. It’s a great thing to do. “83% of customers agree that they feel more loyal to brands that respond and resolve their complaints.”(Khoros) Businesses need to go above and beyond in customer service because this is where you draw back reoccurring customers as stated above. When you help them out in the short run by answering a short question or fixing a problem, they will come back and help you in the long run.

Going the extra mile

Sometimes, companies will go above and beyond to surprise and delight customers on social media. This could involve offering discounts, freebies, or personalized thank-you messages. For example, Makenzie Cann, a social media influencer wanted to get tickets for the Tampa Bay Rayes “Dog Day,” but missed her chance because they were sold out in seconds. She and her family love the Tampa Bay Rayes, especially her dog Raffi. He is 13 years old and she wanted to make sure that he went to “Dog Day” one last time. She posted this on TikTok and it went viral. The Tampa Bay Rayes was tagged in her TikTok numerous times to get their attention. Finally, the Tampa Bay Rayes told her to look in her inbox, turns out they got a set of tickets for her and her dog to enjoy for one more time! This is a great example of going the extra mile. Even if all the tickets were sold out, the Rayes made it their #1 priority to make sure that Makenzie got tickets for her dog Raffi one last time. This is great for publicity and attention from other fans than just Tampa Bay Rayes fans. By doing this simple favor for her, the Rayes created a larger fan base and a happier group of fans.

Generic Responses

Automated or generic responses that don’t address the specific concerns of the customer can come across as robotic and pre-typed. Customers want to feel heard and understood, so personalized responses are crucial. Even if I see comments from businesses that don’t look like they were well-thought-out texts then I wouldn’t be happy, and neither would other customers like me. Even if it takes an extra couple of minutes to finish a paragraph of a response, it’s way better than copying and pasting a generic response pre-typed.

Ignored Complaints

“True, once you lost customer trust, this can never be built up like before.” (Kumar Gautam)

Ignoring a customer’s complaints on social media can lead to frustration and a mop of angry customers. Customers expect timely responses, and when they feel ignored, it can damage a business’s reputation. “After more than one bad experience, around 80% of consumers say they would rather do business with a competitor.” (Zendesk) When businesses don’t respond in a timely matter, problems will occur. A whole group of customers can get angry and side with the customer over the business. Businesses can risk losing tens of thousands of customers in a matter of minutes. From now on, businesses should either set aside of group of people to respond to these messages or they should have certain employees in a group take time out of their day and set aside at least 30 minutes to answer questions, concerns, tweets, etc. to maintain their image and reputation for their own sake.

Conclusion

Having a group of people that control customer responses is crucial to a company. They should respond in a timely manner and have personalized responses. Providing your customers with good customer service on social media is essential for meeting customer expectations, managing a business’s reputation, and gaining a competitive advantage in the field of business.

Works Cited

Staff, Khoros. “Must-Know Customer Service Statistics of 2023.” Khoros, khoros.com/blog/must-know-customer-service-statistics. Accessed 22 Apr. 2024.

Zendesk. Zendesk Customer Experience Trends Report 2020, d1eipm3vz40hy0.cloudfront.net/pdf/cxtrends/cx-trends-2020-full-report.pdf. Accessed 22 Apr. 2024.