social media, is it the new form of customer service?

If you’re in business, your reputation is probably one of the most important things to your success. How happy your customers are has been a long- standing test for how well you run your business and how seamlessly you fulfill the supply and demand, while also meeting your customers’ needs.

Within the last 11 months, I have noticed a sharp increase in the customer-service related inquiries on the social media accounts I manage, which begs me to ask the question is social media the new form of customer service? 

Below are my top 3 tips for handling consumer comments within branded social media accounts:

1. If I don’t know the answer, I still respond. This is pretty simple, but how many times have you seen a comment or message and you’ve thought “I will come back to that.” It’s a very harmless thing to do – and would probably get taken care of (eventually); however, with the high volume content we are all experiencing today and platforms like Instagram (that load only the most recent notifications) things just get lost. Respond now so you won’t forget later.
2. Use emoticons. I honestly don’t know how I made it in this online world without emoticons! They are what I would call a “heavy lifter” when it comes to communicating online, on social media, and in text. Why? Because so much of our communication is based on facial expressions. Now that we have the power to include them in our quick and fast writing, we can create an instant effect and a lasting impression 🙂
3. Type your words the way you would say them over the phone or in person. When we’re speaking to each other in written words, it takes a little more finesse to get our charming and helpful tones across. One of my favorite tricks for this is to use the microphone (circled in pink below) and speak my comment into the phone. This way, all of my phrasing naturally comes across and I can easily edit my punctuation around the words in body of the comment.

I hope these tips are helpful and can shed a little light on how I am making social media work in business. Tweet me or find me on Instagram with any questions or other ideas! @rachelcamfield