Social media is a powerful outlet, but it can be an even more powerful marketing channel. You can use it to uplift your business and heavily influence how efficiently you interact with your customer base. Most importantly, alongside building brand awareness and promoting sales, social media impacts customer service. With it, you can elevate the quality of your customer service. The uses for this favorite, versatile digital technology are endless!
Below, we highlight five ways social media impacts customer service.
Improved Customer Service
This one is a no-brainer. The top way social media impacts customer service is by redefining a customer’s experience when they reach out to businesses for help. In years past, customers had to call, send direct mail, or visit a company to voice their displeasure or get support. Today, consumers have options, with most customers opting for social media as their outlet of choice.
And this influences their expectations. Legalo reports that 76 percent of customers say they expect a response within an hour of voicing a complaint. Social media equips businesses with the tools to respond quickly to messages and keep up with growing expectations. It also assists with building trust and brand loyalty. Exceptional customer service is an integral part of a successful business, as it can promote business growth and lead to word-of-mouth referrals.
Creates a Forum for Customers
An often-overlooked way that social media impacts customer service is through forums. Customer service doesn’t always have to be a direct interaction between a brand and its customers. Sometimes it can be providing the space for communities to grow and consumers to converse.
These communities allow customers to troubleshoot, ask questions, and make recommendations amongst their peers with companies as the moderators. Best of all, the open forum is an excellent way to gather honest feedback and constructive criticism.
Breeds Transparency with Customers
Just as with any healthy relationship, transparency and authenticity are necessary for keeping the lines of communication open. On social media, companies have the opportunity to show and tell customers that they are a top-notch enterprise. The platform can also reveal if such a thing is real. Consumers can watch your social activities, such as handling complaints and how well you listen to and implement feedback.
Another way social media impacts customer service is that it acts as a digital bulletin board. Businesses can announce policy and operational changes almost immediately. In turn, this results in consumers being far more informed than in years past. With all this knowledge at their fingertips, customers are more likely to become invested in your business.
Spot Trends in Consumer Behavior
A telltale sign of an agile brand is that they keep an eye on industry conversations. They do this so that they can spot trends before it’s too late. It is a clever tactic to use to ensure that you get a head start on giving customers what they want.
Social media impacts customer service as most of these conversations occur on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Quora, and Reddit. It gives businesses a unique advantage because it removes the guesswork out of providing the best customer experience.
Build Authentic Relationships
The best way to build an authentic relationship is to engage in conversations with your customers. Social media impacts customer service because it gives companies direct access to their target audience. And as you learn more about your audience, you can automate your social media posts through a marketing automation platform.
When you present your consumers with an outlet and genuinely look to build a relationship with them, they are more likely to be open about what changes they would like to see and how enterprises can improve their overall performance. Remember, how often and how well you respond to your customers is just as impactful as what you say to them. It makes all the difference.
Factoreal
Social media is a powerful and beneficial marketing tool. When implemented correctly, it can encourage customer spending and improves operational efficiency, but most importantly, it assists in providing excellent customer service.
Although we highlighted five ways social media impacts customer service, there are countless other benefits to incorporating it into your business. Our team at Factoreal offers its services as an omnichannel engagement platform to help you further explore the world of automation and grow your business.
To learn more about our services, please contact our team at letschat@factoreal.com anytime.
