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Handling Customer Service Issues through Social Media

Modern technology has given us unprecedented access to everyone and everything. The tools therein can be used to either help or harm your business. One unavoidable tool that can either be a boon or a burden to your business is social networking. If you try to avoid it--or worse, don't run your social media platforms correctly--your business could be harmed as consumers flock to your more social network media savvy competitors. However, if you properly engage consumers on your social media platforms, which many of them will be tethered to from the moment they wake up until--or even while--they are sleep, you will receive many benefits.

One of the best ways to use social media is as a customer issue resolution tool.

Why should I use social media for customer service issues?

You need social media to compete in this increasingly internet-based world. Unfortunately, people love to complain, especially when they can do it from the comfort of their own computer. Although people have become accustomed to seeing the occasional negative review or complaint, viewing a constant bombardment of complaints on your social media page will make people question the viability of your offerings and customer service.

Unfortunately, blocking them (assuming that they aren't internet or competitor trolls) is simply not an option. You don’t want to further anger already irate customers; you cannot block them from talking to their friends or writing negative reviews other sites.

On the other hand, if you publicly address the customer service issue, not only will most of the complainers be sated, but you will also see a spike in consumer goodwill. In essence, handling customer complaints on your social networks can be a powerful marketing tool if you use it right.

How do I handle customer service issues through social media?

Simply knowing that you need to resolve customer service issues via social media will not get the job done. You need to have an intelligent plan of execution to optimize the business benefits of handling customer issues on your social networks. That being said, here is how to handle customer service issues via social media:

Monitor your comments, messages, tags, hashtags, etc.

If you don't know about a problem, you cannot solve it. Make sure to check your messages, tags and comments at least once per day. Also, be on the lookout for negative hashtags that are being circulated about your business. This usually indicates a much deeper problem than a basic customer complaint, but you need to be aware of them. Also, much can often be resolved by contacting and helping the customer(s) who started the negative hashtag.

Respond quickly

Nobody likes to be kept waiting. The faster you solve the problem, the better the customer will feel about your company at the end of the day. Also, never forget that irate customers will not stop at your page--they will lambaste you on other sites as well.

Be (a little) picky

You should never ignore customer complaints. However, the customers with the most followers (biggest reach) should come first, since their influence can help--or hurt—more.

Follow the basic customer care tenets

Listening, empathizing, apologizing and actually resolving the issue are key elements to properly handling issues via social media. Treat them as if they had walked into your store/office with a complaint.

Use the social media platform that they prefer

If a customer complains via Twitter, don't contact them via Facebook because you have more followers there. If they complained via Twitter, it is because they prefer to use it--using other platforms can also seem invasive.

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Topics: Better Service