Harnessing the Power of Social Media for Elevating Customer Service

If your brand still does not use the customer service capabilities of social media yet, then you have got to get with the times ASAP! In 2023, over 4.9 billion people are on some form of social media platform. And potential customers abound when integrating social media into your customer service strategy.

Yesterday’s strategies driven by traditional means may still be effective, but social media-driven customer service is just easier, more cost-efficient, faster, and more effective. Social media is the future of customer service. And with social media, the future is here, and the future is now.

Social Media as a Customer Service Tool

Using social media in customer service makes life easier for your brand and all its stakeholders. Social media serves as everyone’s common juncture in getting in touch. You, loyal customers, potential clients, partners, and the general public are now just a click or tap away from connecting with each other.

Social media as a customer service tool is the height of customer service. No longer does a brand need a whole department of employees to meet customer needs. With social media at the forefront of customer service, we can now automate and streamline tasks with minimal human involvement.

Social media gives your brand a brand relations tool that can do it all. From customer queries to gaining customer engagement, gaining conversion rates, and building a sense of community around your brand, social media can now do it all.

Using Social Media for Customer Communications

Social media exists for engagement in the digital landscape. Its natural progression to become a primary way to communicate with customers was an inevitable event that changed customer service forever. Here are some relevant social media customer service examples of how brands reap multiple benefits from using social media to communicate with customers:

• Increased revenue

Your brand takes advantage of the ease of social media use to net more profit. Engaging with potential customers through social media channels can give your brand a 20 to 40 percent increase in revenue per client.

• Reduced costs

Integrating social media into your brand’s customer conversations strategy gives you the chance to save up to 80% of what you would spend on a customer service policy devoid of social media.

• Wider presence

Your brand can have a customer service presence on any social media platform. This enables seamless communication through their preferred social media network. This kind of reach also gives you valuable insights through conversing with your customers on a personal level.

• Unparalleled accessibility

Automated social media customer service gives your brand the ability to communicate with customers 24/7 at little to no cost.

Best Practices for Social Media Customer Service

To make the most of your presence on social media, you have to build practices that will enable your brand to meet the customer service demand your business creates. Gear your practices towards creating positive experiences for inquiring customers. This will not only take care of your current customers but will also generate follower growth.

Here are some of the best social media customer service best practices your brand can emulate to answer every customer concern that may come your way:

• Have a presence on multiple social media platforms

You want to be there for your customers whenever and wherever they might need you. You increase the chance of properly tending to your clientele’s queries if you are present on the social media platforms your customer base frequents.

Take note of your customer preference for social platforms so you can pivot your online presence toward these platforms. Make your customer service effort more efficient and effective by covering the ground that matters.

• Automate

Chatbots and virtual assistants are an indispensable part of automating your customer service strategy. This automation approach takes care of almost all FAQ queries.

Social media customer service jobs need not be all done by human agents. Statistics show that around 70% of all customer queries are FAQs that can be easily handled by a chatbot. Lessen the workload of your human customer service agents with automated customer handling.

• Self-service customer service

Another effective strategy to lessen workload and improve customer service is by giving your clientele the option to resolve issues and answer questions themselves.

Effective tools for self-help include:

1. FAQ base – Provide answers to frequently asked questions that everyone can refer to when visiting your social media platforms.

2. Community forum – Dedicate part of your social media presence to hosting community forums that will be a dedicated discussion board for everything customers want to know. Members of the community are welcome to answer questions posted in the forum. This candid setting will also garner you customer feedback that will only surface in a community environment.

3. Create customer care content – Make high-quality content like informational blogs, how-to videos, and tutorials.

Effective Social Media Customer Support Tools & Channels

Implement a range of customer support channels that will be relevant to your clientele’s needs.

• Live chat – If your brand can afford it, keep a live chat open for customers who want to interact with a human customer service agent in real time.

• Video chat – Have this channel available to resolve more complex concerns and issues your customers might have.

• Analytics – Put the data you gather to good use. Use social media analytics to interpret key metrics into results that your brand can use to improve service to your target market.

Customer Service Revamp

Social media has given customer service its biggest makeover since customer service came to be. Its accessibility, ease of use, and affordability give businesses and brands the power to effortlessly tackle the concern of seamless communication with customers.

We can’t imagine your brand not having social media handle customer service concerns. But, if you haven’t made the leap yet, now is the time to get on with the times and meet the customer service challenge head-on with social media.