5-Star Review: Common Problems with Social Media

Social media customer service may be the way of the future, but customer outreach marred by ineffective agents and slow service may do more harm than good.

The days of phone support are going out the window. According to online research done by Harris Interactive, the customers of today expect personalization through a variety of service outreach options. Similar research conducted by Harris in 2013 showed the same result—56 percent of adults agreed that they’d be more likely to switch brands if a competitor offered a bigger variety of service channels. This percentage was even higher in the 18-44 demographic (64 percent), the market most likely to utilize new forms of technology.

Of course, many centres know this already and have done a great job of implementing SMS texting, online live chat, mobile phone support and customer survey services into their customer service initiatives. However, many businesses are still failing to properly implement the one outreach option that is becoming more popular with each passing day—social media.

A Social-Specific Skillset

According to a Social Customer Service Report by Incite, only 36 percent of consumers who made social media inquiries felt that their issue was resolved quickly and effectively. The difficulty of maintaining quality social media outreach may stem from the fact that its implementation provides a wealth of challenges that many agents aren’t trained to handle:

Problem: Social media is a new type of communication: Agents need to be able to manage customers differently on social media than other channels. Most social media responses will be public, brief, and quick—all while maintaining quality standards and keeping their overall experience in mind.

Solution: Agents with a talent for brevity, clear articulation, and fast problem diagnosis will excel in the social media environment. Find the agents on your team who are naturally talented in these areas and hone their abilities with coaching. If possible, create a dedicated team for social media outreach that is flexible and able to address posted complaints on the first go.

Problem: Social media is available 24/7: Well, this isn’t a problem as much as it is a double-edged sword. It’s great that your customers can access your business whenever they need and at any time of the day, but the downside is that your business needs to be constantly watching for these inquiries.

Solution: Make it clear to your staff that staying on top of social media outreach is essential to its success. Millennials expect a quick response to a quick inquiry; address each customer as they come up, even if it’s just to provide an acknowledgement of their issue and an assurance that a solution is on the way.

Problem: Social media is a one-to-many channel: Unlike the relative privacy of phone and chat support, social media outreach is visible to the entire world. This means that slow handling of inquiries and ineffective customer support become visible badges of shame that hurt both your business and the customer experience.

Solution: Agents should be coached in proper communication practices and how best to represent your business with the eyes of the world on them. These goals include responding promptly, maintaining a clear and professional corporate image, and keeping up with best practices for customer care. These initiatives can help prevent the all-too-public social backlash of bad customer service.

Problem: Social media has unique restrictions: Many social media platforms have characteristic restrictions associated with their use that may limit the effectiveness of your outreach. These include character limits (Twitter), posting restrictions (private groups on Facebook), and proper use of labels like hashtags.

Solution: Agents should have hands-on experience with the platforms they work with to get a feel for the capabilities and limitations of each service. A theoretical understanding is a start, but truly effective customer outreach will come from agents that have years of experience handling the platforms their customers use. This will ensure that your centre isn’t limited by lack of agent knowledge of the platform they use.

A Social Future

Your contact centre company needs to be optimized to provide the level of support your customers expect, no matter what method they choose. Millions of users are turning to social media for their work and personal interactions; why should customer service be any different?

Quality social media outreach involves having trained team members who are capable of quick (and sometimes creative) problem-solving, are up-to-date on social platform management, and who can relay a professional image to customers in public and courteous way. With the right coaching and awareness of potential issues, your centre can break through the pitfalls of the social media service experience and begin to reap the rewards that diversified customer outreach provides.

Interested in more ways to implement better social service into your contact centre? Download our free white paper!