Social Media Strategies To Avoid Customer Service Meltdown

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It’s no secret that today’s social networking communities have had a major impact on customer service expectations. Gone are the days when local businesses would receive a random call from an unhappy customer. Today’s disgruntled customers are quickly spreading their complaints in an entirely new (and instantly gratifying!) way – through their social media pages.

Recognize “Damage Control” Situations

When using social media in your marketing mix, you have to prepare yourself for everything that this resource brings with it (the really good, the sometimes bad, and the very occasionally ugly). Obviously, no company is completely immune to negative comments posted on their disgruntled customers’ social media sites. Even a completely unjustified status update or tweet can get blasted to the online community and result in a tarnished brand.

In response to this new consumer trend, organizations in every industry find themselves forced to rethink the way they respond and manage their customer service issues.

Fortunately, today’s entrepreneurs don’t have to turn a blind eye to social media slander aimed at their business’s reputation. In short, one bad (or annoyed) apple does not have to spoil the online bunch. How, you ask? Making sure that you or your social media agent is trained in the art of customer service is an important first step. 

Your Social Media Agent: A Powerful Resource In Your Online Brand Image

Just like any other marketing, your social media campaign can prove the first (and only) exposure potential clients get of your business. So it makes sense that you wouldn’t entrust your corporate image, and arguably your most valuable asset, to someone who can’t effectively manage an occasional online customer service issue as it arises. Your social media agent, whether internal or whether you outsource, should be properly trained in social media related customer service tactics and should be able to:

Take a consumer pulse check: Your social media agent should always be consistently monitoring what’s being said about your company. This is the best way to identify a problem before it spins out of control. Plus, aside from the occasional negative comment, you’ll probably always find a lot of great things being said about your organization that you’ll want to self-promote.

Be ready to react: Monitoring social media attitudes is great, but it’s really only half of the battle. Your agent needs to be ready to react – fast! The best way to do this? Training! Whether you are using internal employees or outsourcing your social media, it is highly advisable to create a thorough customer service training manual. What should it cover? General FAQs about the company, common concerns or questions, and how the company wants to respond to these concerns. Can the social media agent make the decision to offer something to a particularly unhappy customer? Be sure to make a note of that. Being prepared to handle every possible customer issue will show that you truly care about your customers’ concerns and are prepared to act appropriately to solve them.

Respond appropriately: Most importantly, whenever something negative about your biz is identified, you should be prepared to quickly and effectively diffuse the situation. Any response should always be positive, professional and appropriate. Responding to negative press in a defensive or harmful way will only worsen the situation.

Boom Social is your full service solution for social media marketing. We can handle every aspect of your social media strategy, and we promise to always address your company’s customer service issues just like your internal employees would. Contact us today to find out how we can help!