Specialists in the field of social media marketing such as Brian Solis have come to the conclusion that social media can mean both a chance of success or a disaster when dealing with customers. Unlike companies’ previous systems of dealing with customer complaints, social media include many possibles ways of making protests public. Furthermore, the truth about customers is that when they have a positive experience they tell a few people, but when they have a negative one they tell all the world. In order to avoid such a negative publicity for a company it is crucial to know which are the qualities that make a social customer service good.
1. Being concrete: when a client of a company has a concrete complaint about a product or a service, it is important to give personalized responses. Sometimes customer services give general solutions to very specific problems, which only leads to increase the dissatisfaction of the buyer. Therefore, the way to face specific problems are personalized solutions.
2. Turning complaints into a chance: it is never pleasant to deal with unhappy customers, but it is something that it’s inherent to the fact of working with them. Receiving negative feedback from time to time is inevitable, but still it is possible to take advantage of the situation. Treating the customer right and show that you are wiling to help will mobilize angry people to good effect, and make clients more satisfied.
Social media essentially functions to allow people to make their voices heard, but unfortunately for businesses the things that their customers have to say may not always be complimentary. Ashley Williamson
3. Responding quickly: if there’s something characterizing social media is their immediacy. Everything that is written or shared is published at the moment, and, with Twitter for example, it doesn’t take long for many people to read publication. In consequence, any negative feedback about a customer’s experience will spread quickly. Being quick in proposing solutions is key to minimize the damage, and making people see that you care about customers’ problems.
4. Not being too formal: the general tone used in the social network is informal, and so will be when a customer complaints. Responding in a rather informal way will make you appear closer, especially in comparison with the traditional customer services. Of course, informal doesn’t mean irrespective or inefficient, it is just a manner of getting close to the client.
References
Eckerle, C. (2013, October 15). Why Social Media is the New Customer Service Hotline. Retrieved from: http://sherpablog.marketingsherpa.com/marketing/social-media-customer-service-hotline/
Garst, K. (2013, October 24). 5 Qualities of Companies With Outstanding Social Customer Service. Retreived from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kim-garst/5-qualities-of-companies-_b_4156604.html
Solis, B. (2013, May 7). The First MIle: The Broken Mile of Social Media Customer Service. Retrieved from: http://www.briansolis.com/2013/05/the-first-mile-the-broken-link-of-social-media-customer-service/
Williamson, A. (2013, October 21). Does Social Media Suffice for Customer Service? Retrieved from: http://socialmediatoday.com/ashley-williamson/1844026/does-social-media-suffice-customer-service
