Maya certainly has a firm grasp of the subject on social customer care, doesn’t she? Feelings and emotions are the keys to social customer care. And social customer care is really the key to your marketing campaigns … particularly word of mouth marketing. So you are getting the picture, right?
People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel..
– Maya Angelou
Social customer care is no longer an emerging trend to merely keep an eye on – it’s a burgeoning movement that companies would be very wise to embrace. Instead of returning to a store or calling a helpline, people are increasingly turning to social media to resolve their gripes. It is called social customer care.
Customer care and retention efforts are most effective when they’re proactive, not reactive. In other words, it’s much easier to set customers up for success than to frantically rescue at-risk customers later on. Proactive customer support involves providing your customer with the necessary resources to succeed right from day one, not just when things go wrong.
With everyone so focused on the very big and positive impact that social customer care can have on the customer experience, many companies fail to realize that social customer care can have just as big and positive an impact on the employee experience. And that alone multiplies the importance of social customer care to customer experience design.
The fact that approaches to social customer care can vary adds to this challenge. Some companies are using social channels to resolve customer concerns and questions publicly, while others prefer to take social feedback offline and route customers to phones or online chats. Some are investing in social-listening tools and vendors, while others are creating in-house social-care teams.
In the end, the biggest challenge is finding the right balance. That is would we will address today … steps to achieving the best in social customer care.
Here are 9 steps we recommend our clients take to achieve these goals of being best and balanced:
Select your channels
To select your best channels you must know who your customers are and do good research. Look at the data and study trends. This will help you determine what consumers are thinking and saying, what channels are most popular, and whether you have the resources to deal with issues.
Gain customer insights
The data you gather through social media monitoring can be a valuable source for customer insights. Lots of them that simply can’t be found elsewhere.
Empower your staff
Empower the social customer service team to act quickly. Make them feel completely supported. If you can’t trust them, then you have the wrong team.
Etiquette
Judge whether customers want your help and engagement before you jump in.
Prioritization
Define your social media engagement plans based on your objective priorities. And don’t make the mistake of underestimating the time required to do the job well.
Connect multiple channels
Conversations with customers will quickly spread between channels. Businesses need to be able to monitor across multiple channels.
Employ social media tools
By now you are probably very aware of how much time social media can consume. Social media tools are available to reduce the time requirements and improve your performance.
Choose your tools to combine an ability to both listen and engage.
Establish a listening program
Here you need to consider the terms you will monitor carefully. Pay particular attention to the mention of your brand and miscellaneous negative terms.
Over achieve expectations
Without an effective social media listening program in place, brands cannot hope to live up to customer expectations, let alone overachieve. Listen, interpret, and then act.
This is your time to create remarkable social customer care. With good continuity and persistence, you will be able to develop lasting relationships with your customers. Lead with initiative and own the moment. Dive in today and notice your business improvements build.
Remember this simple fact. Brands are verbs. What they do matters more than what they say. Let your actions be your difference-maker.
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Read more on customer service from Digital Spark Marketing’s blog library:
The Business Intelligence Process Part 3 Competitive Analysis
10 Entrepreneur Lessons You Need to Know
Collaboration and Partnerships Are Key to Business Growth
9 Steps to Making Your Social Customer Care the Best in Local Markets