Having a bad experience with a company or product is one thing but it's another when the only way to voice your concern is through the black hole of a support email. Nowadays, people are looking for convenient ways to provide feedback, complain, and even share praise about a product or service. And more often than not, people are heading straight to social media because of its accessibility and the public forum it offers.
Just take a glance at Southwest Airlines's Facebook Page. Not only does Southwest utilize their page as a way to promote their brand, sales, and new features but they spend significant time engaging with their customer base and providing support and education right from their social media pages. Using social media in conjunction with customer support is continuing to gain momentum and has become mainstream for many businesses. Curious to know how it works? Here are a few key factors as to why it works and how it might be successful for you!
1. Convienience
Simply put, communicating through social media is easy. There's no hassle with support forms or captchas to navigate through. All a customer needs to do is write on the wall in order for the company to receive a notification of their post. Also by leaving a comment on an open forum setting like Facebook gives the customer some leverage and possible attention. This leverage is what leads me to point #2.
2. Strength in Numbers
Since the Facebook Wall is a public viewing space there is some power involved for individuals sharing feedback or a complaint. It's a way for a customer or group of customers to ban together in a strength in numbers approach. Even if a company chooses not to respond (which is not recommended) the individual's comment will have some power. This same power can be used by you, the page manager! Use the post as a way to educate a large group of people at once and not just an individual like a traditional email would.
3. Response Time
Not only is social media convenient in terms of accessibility but the response time for a post on social media tends to be much shorter than email. This is something to consider when using social for customer service. Avid Facebook users will expect a reply within a few hours but responses don't need to be quite as in depth as a traditional email reply. This is a positive for you too and will significantly cut down on your workload not having to craft detailed emails for every customer inquiry.
4. Engagement
Offering your Facebook page as a customer service channel can be a great way to increase engagement on your page. Your fans will see your page as a resource for your brand and industry and as an avenue to connect directly with you to get help. However remember to balance your positive and negative engagement by providing your community with content they are interested in and excited about.
Whether you decide to jump on board the customer service social media train right away or let it organically begin, these four factors should provide a good foundation on why this approach can be successful. If you're still unsure how to approach this method, try checking out your favorite large brands and see just what steps they are taking to provide the best customer experience possible.