Social Media Customer Care: Your Guide [Infographic]

Are you considering a social media customer care strategy? You may need a "Spring cleaning!" Here's your guide - A colorful 10-step guide in a cool Infographic!

Guest post by G. John Cole

It’s time for a Spring cleaning of your social media customer care strategy...

The funny thing about social media customer care is that when you look at it from another angle, it becomes social media marketing. While some businesses have become adept at turning bad publicity into a winning situation, many are still failing to exploit this strategy in the digital realm.

Just as your personal social media profiles shape your friends’ understanding of who you are – even when you’re sharing stuff that doesn’t affect them directly – every social media encounter your business experiences will contribute to your company profile in the eyes of those who see it. And of course, online that could be anyone.

This is what makes social media customer care an issue fraught with both sensitivity and potential.

Most importantly, remember the customer care aspect. When you receive a complaint in your mentions, acknowledge it as soon as possible. Put yourself in the position of your customer: If they’re contacting you via social media, it probably means that they’re pretty frustrated. Let them know that you’ve heard them, even if you can’t do anything about it just now.

[ctt template="5" link="89rP1" via="yes" ]42% of customers expect to get a response within one hour.[/ctt]

But don’t rely on your mentions to alert you to dissatisfied customers...

It’s a great idea to run an advanced search each day to see if customers are mentioning you without tagging your business. Often, your reputation could be suffering without you having had a chance to make things right.

Better yet, use apps and services such as Sprout Social (referral link) or Hootsuite which will do some of the legwork for you, and help you to prioritize when times are busy.

Social media customer care is synonymous with social media customer service. This 10-step guide will show you:

Social media customer service examples
Social media customer service best practices
Social media customer service statistics
Social media customer service tools

The fab new infographic below from the people at Headway Capital gives the full rundown on how to establish and maintain a fruitful social media customer care strategy. Make sure you heed each tip, and you’ll be ready to turn every potential hiccup into a surefire publicity bonus!

Social Media Customer Care: Your Guide [Infographic]

Courtesy of: Headway Capital

Author Bio

G. John Cole is a digital nomad and freelance writer. Specializing in leadership, digital media and personal growth, his passions include world cinema and biscuits. A native Englishman, he is always on the move, but can most commonly be spotted in Norway, the UK and the Balkans. Connect with him on LinkedIn and he and his team on Twitter.

2 Replies

By Grant Merriel on 22nd March, 2017

Nice tips about social media customer care! Indeed, customers want a super fast response from you (especially if they have complaints), and if you can’t get into them within an hour, it’s highly possible that they will say more “negative” things about you.

Reply to Grant
- By Keri Jaehnig on 22nd March, 2017
  
  Grant, Glad you liked this post and infographic! It is true – Customers and potential customers expect quick answers online. I’ve even heard the trend closer to 30 minutes. How we approach customer care – Online and in real life absolutely contributes to business success, and what our reviews will say online. Thanks for your comment, ~Keri
  
  Reply to Keri