It’s Alive! Or at Least It Should Be. Customer Service and Social Media, That Is.

It’s not an earth-shattering revelation to declare that we all work in customer service, no matter what our actual job title is.  The customers might be external, they might be internal, but each of us interacts daily with people that we must share with, help, and provide information to in a timely manner.

And social media has added a whole new twist to how we work.  We’re available to customers 24 hours a day (at least in their minds).  They’re talking about us 24 hours a day.

The Worst Thing You Can Do:

In a word, ignore.  Ignore the comments.  Ignore what’s being said, ignore the conversations.  If you pretend that they’re not happening, you’re probably going to have a giant fail on your hands.  See: Chapstick.

 

Here’s the truth: your company has to be ready to act on the conversations that are taking place.  The things you start to hear on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ might need to be addressed not just by your social media manager, but by marketing, operations, research and development, the executive team.

Do you have a plan in place to respond to the people talking about you effectively and in a timely manner?  Here are some ways to be proactive and prepared:

First, Educate Your Team
Make other leaders and departments in your company aware of the social media tools you’re using and where you’re participating.  You may need to give some people a crash course on the value of social media and how it works.  There will be people in your organization that don’t use a smartphone or have a Facebook account.

Added bonus: your employees may start to participate in these conversations too, on their own.  If that’s the case, make sure that your company has a social media policy in place.

Establish Key Contacts
Who within each department will be your contact when it comes time to send a social media comment or issue up the pipeline?  You don’t want to wait until an issue arises and needs to be addressed to figure this out.  If there’s a long lag time between comment and answer, you may create an even bigger problem for your company.

Establish those key players now so that action can be taken quickly.  Share with those contacts how they’ll hear from you, and how you’ll work together to craft a response.

Determine What Is Realistic and What Isn’t, In Terms of Requests, Abilities and Time
We all know that you are going to hear comments and ideas that are unrealistic or unmerited.  Not every issue will merit action, but every comment does deserve a response.  Even if you just thank the customer for their thoughts.

But if the comment refers to a valid customer service issue, you must act.  How will you consider the ideas and suggestions that arise in the social space?  How will those ideas be communicated to the people who have the ability to act on them?  What is the barometer for judging what is a realistic, helpful request that could benefit your organization vs. an unrealistic suggestion?

The Actual Response
Once it’s been determined that a comment has merit, what’s the process for responding?  Will operations tell the social media manager what to say?  Will several people have access to respond directly?  Figure this out now so action can be taken quickly.

Measure
How often are you acting on the requests and feedback you get over social media?  Tracking and measuring this information could lead to more action.

And if you measure, you can even report back to your brand fans.  How great would it be if you could tell your customers that because of what you heard from them, you made a change that had a big impact?

A Plan – You’ve Got to Have One

No matter what plan you put in place to respond, the key is that you actually have a plan.  One that is written down and shared with all of the players.  You’ll really wow your customers if you solve their issue, and then touch base again to make sure they are satisfied.

Not to mention that even by just responding and showing that you’re listening, you build some credibility.

I recently had a couple of hiccups in service with Zappos.com and Elder Beerman.  In both cases, I reached out to the companies using social media.  Both responded to me quickly and provided solutions.  You can bet I’ll keep shopping with them.

On the flip side, I had a bad experience with the United States Postal Service.  I received a package, marked fragile by both the sender and the Post Office, arrive at my doorstep with the contents smashed to smithereens.

The next day I got a notice that I needed to pick up another package at a post office in a town 20 minutes away.  When I went to get it, I was told so sorry, but the package was actually at my hometown Post Office, a couple of minutes from my house.

I reached out to the Post Office at it’s @USPSConnect account on Twitter with some feedback.  That was over a week ago, and so far, no response.  I shouldn’t be surprised, since the last tweet they sent was on May 10.  My future fragile shipments will be headed out using FedEx or UPS.

What else can companies do to provide excellent customer service via social media?  What’s worked for you?  What hasn’t?