If you're engaging on social media, how do you know if you're living up to your customers' expectations? Social media isn't about applying the wittiest tone of voice, it's about being able to engage and reply in real-time to your customers' issues and complaints. Customers are now completely in control of the conversation and don't just settle for a merely acceptable experience.
For 51% of brands, real-time social media engagement is the biggest challenge. Always on, always connected customers demand quick and easy solutions, on the fly, to the issues they're dealing with on a daily basis. However, large brands, especially large enterprises, simply can't live up to that expectation and are quickly losing customers, money, and time.
On social media, 72% of customers expect brands to reply within the hour. So what happens if brands fail to reply? How can social customer service become a key differentiator amongst competitors. Timing is key. If brands manage to reply within an appropriate time frame, there's a perfect foundation for a loyal customer relationship.
These days, competitors are always just a quick online search away, and brands need to rapidly take matters into their own hands. Social media teams are drowning in the volume of incoming messages, and companies don't have the proper resources to manage every single aspect of their social media presence and simultaneously provide an exceptional customer experience.
However, the real challenge lies in changing a company's mindset: customer service is no longer a department, it's a culture. Moreover, social media should be embedded in the entire company - so don't be afraid to show off your personality. Invest time in getting every employee, across departments, on the same page. Authenticity and relevance is key in any aspect of your business.
What exactly prevents companies from engaging in real-time with their customers?
1. Companies should use social media as a means to listen to their customers and not broadcast messages or have one-way conversations.
2. It's hard to handle the volume of social media messages: complaints often get lost in the stream of social media messages.
3. Brands often lack the right software to scale their efforts: investing time in social media can only pay off if you're using the right tools.
4. Social media demands engagement from all departments, however, brands often get sidetracked - especially in an international working environment - in the maze of different teams, timezones, regulations, and cultures.
5. Social media is never a 'one size fits all' strategy: mastering it can be tricky. Without a proper engagement strategy, one mistake can set the organization back for months.
6. Social media agents require a comprehensive knowledge center that will enable them to provide smooth replies to customers with accurate information presented in a very dynamic and straightforward way.
7. Brands often find it hard to make sense of interactions and implement their customer engagement strategy, lacking contextual information about their customers to help customize conversations and make them more personal, relevant, and authentic.
What is it exactly that prevents brands from engaging in real-time? And how can your brand solve these challenges? Read all about it here.