{"id":31703,"date":"2018-03-31T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-03-31T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hyken.com\/how-to-turn-social-media-customer-service-into-a-marketing-strategy\/"},"modified":"2024-02-27T23:14:24","modified_gmt":"2024-02-27T23:14:24","slug":"turn-social-media-customer-service-marketing-strategy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hyken.com\/social-media\/turn-social-media-customer-service-marketing-strategy\/","title":{"rendered":"Turn Social Media Customer Service into a Marketing Strategy"},"content":{"rendered":"Earlier this month I attended\u00a0Social Media Marketing World<\/a>, the largest conference on social media marketing in the world. Over the last few years, customer service has shifted from traditional phone support toward social media channels like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and others. Dan Gingiss<\/a> started the Social Customer Care Track and interest has grown exponentially. The room I spoke in this year was three times larger than last year\u2019s room, and we packed the house.\r\n\r\n\"\"\r\n

Social Media Changes Customer Service<\/h3>\r\nCustomers have a louder voice than ever before. The 1979 study by the Technical Assistance Research Program, commissioned by the White House Office of Consumer Affairs, found that a complaining customer might tell 8-12 people about a negative experience they had with a business. Happy customers tell an average of 6. However, because of social media, those numbers have dramatically changed. A positive or negative experience shared on social media can garner thousands of views. Even millions!\r\n\r\nA great example of a positive customer service experience reaching a broad audience is the story of Joshie<\/a>, a beloved stuffed animal that a young guest left at the Ritz-Carlton Amelia Island. The father of the child who left Joshie behind shared their experience in a blog post. Since then, the story has been retold and shared by many others and has gone \u201cviral.\u201d\r\n\r\nOne of the best examples of a complaint that went viral was Dave Carroll\u2019s YouTube video<\/a> about when United Airlines broke his guitar. When United refused to fix or replace the broken guitar, Carroll wrote a song about the experience (as any good musician might do), turned it into a video, and posted it on YouTube for all the world to see. At the time of this article, he\u2019s had almost 18 million views.\r\n\r\nGood and bad experiences handled the right way, make social customer care far more important than basic customer service. It blurs the lines between customer service, marketing, and even sales.\r\n

Social Proof<\/h3>\r\nScientific data validate the importance and power of social media customer service.\r\n\r\nAccording to Bain and Company, research from 2011<\/a> indicates that when brands engage or respond to customer requests over social media, those customers spend 20-40% more on average. A more recent study by Twitter<\/a> that appeared this year in the Harvard Business Review found that a response to a complaining customer \u2013 even if it\u2019s not the response the customer may want to hear \u2013 significantly improves the odds that they will not only come back but also spend more on your products or services.\r\n\r\nSocialSprout\u2019s research<\/a> claims that 89% of social media messages from brands go ignored. Other studies found similar results. Some claim this number seems high, but even if it was half that \u2013 or even a quarter\u2013 the number is still too high.\r\n\r\nAccording to Groove<\/a>, \u201cfailure to respond to customer complaints or questions on social media can lead to a 15% increase in churn.\u201d Can any business afford to lose customers at this rate?!\r\n

Two Choices in Social Customer Care: Reactive and Proactive<\/h3>\r\nMany companies I work with have the social care concept wrong. Their version of social customer care is to monitor popular review sites like Yelp and TripAdvisor, as well as channels like Twitter and Facebook, and react to complaints and questions. That\u2019s a good start, but there are so many more opportunities. The best companies not only respond to complaints and answer questions, they thank customers and comment on positive reviews. The companies who do it best go beyond just reacting to what customers post \u2013 they proactively interact with their community of customers.\r\n

Reactive Social Customer Service<\/h3>\r\nThe traditional way customers reached out to a company for help was via telephone. They still do, but a growing number are turning to social media channels as their first choice. Many customers post a question or problem not as a rant but as a basic cry for help. But that isn\u2019t always the case. When customers leave a scathing review on Facebook or send a nasty tweet, it is often because the first effort, whether on the phone, through social media, or even in person, was not handled to the customer\u2019s satisfaction. Regardless of the reason, responding the right way can springboard your customer service reputation. The world can see how you respond in real-time. My friend and colleague Jay Baer says, \u201cSocial media turns customer service into a spectator sport.\u201d When your customer makes a \u201cpublic complaint,\u201d the world is watching to see how you respond. A well-handled problem can be your best PR opportunity; mismanaged, it becomes a PR nightmare.\r\n

Speed Counts<\/h3>\r\nReaction time is important. The time that it takes a company to respond is crucial to take advantage of this PR opportunity. A few years back, I wrote about the Eptica<\/a> study that evaluated 500 US retailers\u2019 ability to respond to customers. The average amount of time it takes for many of these companies to reply was, to say the least, disappointing. For email, the average response time was 7 hours and 51 minutes. For Facebook, the average response time was 1 day, 3 hours, and 7 minutes. And for Twitter, the average response time was 1 day, 7 hours, and 12 minutes.\r\n\r\nNumerous other studies validate these numbers and, in some cases, found even worse statistics. Simply put, nobody wants to wait nearly eight hours for a response to their complaint in the lightning-fast world of social media.\r\n\r\nRegardless of the social media channel, reaction time is paramount. Social Bakers released a study<\/a> that found the average wait time on social media is nine hours. American Express Global Customer Service Barometer indicates that 25% of customers who complain on social media expect a response in less than an hour.\r\n\r\nI was on a flight back to St. Louis with a short layover in Dallas. As we were approaching the Dallas airport, the Captain announced there was bad weather, and we would be circling the airport until it was safe to land. Using the airplane\u2019s internet, I checked to see if I would make my connection. Unfortunately, the delay was going to mean I\u2019d\u00a0miss my flight. So, I went on Twitter and directly messaged American Airlines that I was going to miss the flight. Within minutes, they responded that I was now protected on the next flight. That\u2019s the way social customer care should be handled. Their response time was excellent. It wasn\u2019t their fault the bad weather caused a delay, but they stepped up and seized the opportunity to make a passenger happy. By the way, I \u201cwent social\u201d and tweeted about the great way AA handled my problem.\r\n

Stay on the Same Channel<\/h3>\r\nIf a customer starts on Twitter, stay on Twitter. The only channel to consider switching to is the phone. In my American Airlines example above, they didn\u2019t ask me to switch to Facebook. It started and ended on Twitter.\r\n

Finish Strong<\/h3>\r\nRegardless of how upset a customer is, once the problem is resolved, circle back to the original post and leave a comment thanking the customer for bringing the problem to your attention and for giving you the opportunity to make it right. In a perfect world, the customer will come back and acknowledge that you took care of them.\r\n

The Opposite of Reactive is Proactive<\/h3>\r\nBeing proactive with comments, content, and engagement is giving your customers a great customer experience. Here are ten ways to proactively deliver a better social media customer experience.\r\n
    \r\n \t
  1. Push Value-Added Content<\/em><\/strong>:<\/strong> A good content marketing campaign is one of the strongest ways to deliver a better customer experience. It\u2019s not about asking for business, it\u2019s about delivering value and contributing to the overall customer experience. For example, a company could share relevant research or a white paper; a hardware store can create how-to videos on the most common household repairs and projects; a restaurant can share a popular recipe or even hold a recipe contest and invite customers to participate. When customers enjoy your content, it can become part of your self-service customer care solution, which we\u2019ll cover in just a bit.<\/li>\r\n \t
  2. Scale Important Messages<\/em><\/strong>:<\/strong> Use multiple channels and devices (e.g., emails, texts, tweets, Facebook posts, robocalls) to get important messages out. Last year, there were at least two major airlines with computer outages that stranded thousands of passengers. Frequent and regular messaging would have given passengers the information they wanted and needed. In addition, employees of the airlines would possess the information and answers to passengers\u2019 questions and would have answered them consistently.<\/li>\r\n \t
  3. An App Creates Interactive Engagement with the Brand:<\/em><\/strong> Consider developing an app. It doesn\u2019t have to be expensive. It can include information about new products, better ways to use products, relevant articles, and more. For example, Starbucks has an app that drives its loyalty program by rewarding frequent visits and giving incentives for customers to come back more often. It\u2019s very sophisticated and was very expensive to develop. But you don\u2019t have to spend a lot of money. App developers like GoodBarber<\/a> provide templates for inexpensive apps that are easy to create with no coding or programming. (Check out my app by going to the app store on your Apple<\/a> or Android device to see an example of an inexpensive, yet effective app.)<\/li>\r\n \t
  4. YouTube is an Amazing Social Media Tool<\/em><\/strong>:<\/strong> Video content is one of the best ways to deliver amazing value to your customers. Create content that interests your customers and compels them to comment. This allows you to respond and start conversations. You don\u2019t have to spend a lot of money on production. These are YouTube videos, not theatrical releases. Reasonable video quality is important, but the sound quality is critical. Make sure they are easy to hear and understand and include captions for the hearing impaired or viewers who can\u2019t listen while they watch.<\/li>\r\n \t
  5. Self-Service is a Strong Option<\/em><\/strong>:<\/strong> Socializing customer service is a perfect way to bring self-service solutions to your customers. Plus, self-service is available 24\/7. You can have an FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) page on your website. Also, YouTube may be one of your most powerful self-service solutions. Companies sometimes have hundreds of videos on their YouTube channel. For example, if you use Salesforce and have a question, just search it on YouTube. You\u2019ll find great videos produced by Salesforce \u2013 as well as some by their customers \u2013 that will give detailed instructions. My favorite example is when I bought my daughter a ping pong table. The instructions were hard to understand (they were in German), so I just typed the manufacturer name and model number into the search bar and within seconds I was watching a video that showed me how to put the table together step by step.<\/li>\r\n \t
  6. Create LinkedIn and Facebook Groups<\/em><\/strong>:<\/strong> These groups are the perfect places for customers to hang out and answer other customers\u2019 questions. And if an unhappy or angry customer shows up, your happy customers (who I like to refer to as customer evangelists) will come to your rescue.<\/li>\r\n \t
  7. Dealing with Negative Social Media Posts<\/em><\/strong>:<\/strong> Everyone is worried about receiving negative reviews. Proactively monitor the internet for any mentions of your company and then respond respectfully. Beyond social media channels, there are other review sites to monitor as well. While TripAdvisor and Yelp are two of the most popular review sites, almost every industry has a forum where customers can talk about the companies they do business with. A negative review is upsetting, but again, it\u2019s an opportunity to turn a rant into a rave by showing how you step up and take care of the customer. A few thoughts to consider when it comes to negative reviews:<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n