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9 Benefits of Social Media Customer Service Phillip Crowe, Social Media Director atGlobal Response, The Brand Care Call Center.

+Don’t just listen, HEAR your customers.

!  Social media customer service is the tricky business of having the right tools, managed by the right team, with the right resources to hear your customers and respond with the right answers. When done correctly, social customer service provides these nine benefits.

+1) Never miss a mention

!  According to a July 2013 Conversocial study, 97% of brand mentions in social media are missed.

!  Before enacting a social media customer service program, all relevant social networks should receive a complete audit. A true understanding of brand mention volume ensures that agents are capturing the full picture before they respond.

+2) Real-time response

!  Urgency is a big factor in satisfying customer expectations. Depending on your mention volume and complexity of response, a dedicated or shared team can monitor and respond on behalf of your brand in real-time.

!  This offers the same level of responsiveness to customers on social media that they expect from traditional channels, such as phone or online chat.

+3) Take your brand mobile

!  According to The Center for Media Research, 10% of all eCommerce spending for the holiday season 2013 will be conducted via mobile device. Smartphones and tablets are the future of customer interactions with your brand.

!  Extend your customer service into mobile by responding to customer service queries on social media, upward of 50% of which are conducted on mobile devices.

+4) Management 24/7

!  Your customers are asking you questions 24/7. Managing those interactions can be difficult for small teams, especially overnight, on weekends, or holidays.

!  A dedicated social media customer service team irons out these difficulties providing tracking and escalation to your interactions 24/7.

+5) Brand engagement

!  Customers crave feedback. Simply publishing content without response can leave them feeling like only half of the engagement story has been told. Tell the other half by responding to their requests in a timely manner.

+6) Build awareness

!  Online “word of mouth” is a highly coveted method of spreading awareness about your brand.

!  By garnering a strong online reputation for timely response, customers will become evangelists, and spread positive experiences with your brand to their friends and family members.

+7) Grow customer lifetime value

!  Cultivating existing customer loyalty is much more cost effective than paid advertising used to acquire new customers.

!  By keeping your current customers happy, you are increasing their likelihood to stay with your brand and spend more money over the long term allowing your brand to grow market share organically.

+8) Track trends and insights

!  Knowledge is critical in today’s economy. By utilizing analysis software, you can track mentions of your brand, measure sentiment, identify the number of different issues, and formulate a clear strategy based on data insights.

+9) Receive customer feedback

!  Likes, comments, and other social feedback level the playing field for your brand when gathering the insights. Previously, these insights would have required expensive surveys or focus groups.

!  With social media you can know immediately if a campaign is well received or requires fine-tuning.

+Go with the pros

!  Global Response has been working in customer service for nearly 40 years. Extending our Brand Care Agents to social media on behalf of your brand is a natural fit. We manage your presences on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and other online communities, and provide tracking and trending for disposition, timeliness, and accuracy of response. Contact us today!

+About the author

!  Phillip Crowe is Social Media Director at Global Response, the brand care contact center. He provides a consultative approach to set up social media monitoring, management, and customer service programs for enterprise brands. Phillip graduated from Florida State University with a Master’s in Integrated Marketing Communications. Contact Phillip at phil@globalresponse.com to learn more.