It’s true that social media has opened up a whole new world for marketing and sales, and that’s a wonderful thing for businesses. The more markets you have to peddle your wares the more eyeballs you can get in front of, and that means more sales.
The online social world offers much more than just sales opportunities, but many businesses seem to view it as simply another magazine to place ads in. One major way that social can help your business is through customer service, but there’s a fine line there. Doing customer service wrong or badly in a place where the whole world can see your mistakes can be devastating. Just ask Carnival Cruise Lines about the #CruiseFromHell.
Doing it well, however, can connect your company with its customers in a more sincere and intimate way than ever before possible. Great customer service almost always leads to greater loyalty and more sales, so let me help you out and give you ten best practices that can improve your company’s customer service skills using social media.
1. Have Dedicated Customer Service Channels
There’s nothing inherently wrong with using your business profile for customer service inquiries, but maintaining a separate customer service handle offers plenty of advantages to make it worth the effort.
One of those advantages is keeping your primary feed focused on engagement that promotes your business. From the customer’s standpoint, a dedicated customer service channel gives them clear direction on getting answers to their problems.
In addition, you get the benefit of transparency in customer relations without advertising your issues to other followers who may not be aware of them. You don’t want to hide customer issues, but there’s no reason to advertise them either.
