Forbes
Social media usage continues to grow explosively. Not surprisingly, businesses want to leverage social media for customer acquisition and retention, as well as brand building. Providing good customer service to the social consumer is emerging as a critical imperative to achieving these objectives since social media is also a natural venue for customers to air their grievances.
While going social in customer service makes sense for many businesses, it might pay to be "antisocial" first, meaning a deliberate approach to social media customer service will maximize the odds of success. It is not uncommon for businesses to simply rush into social without giving themselves adequate time to assess the need, develop a strategy, formulate policy and practices, and put the required technology, process and people infrastructures in place. The Web is rife with examples of poor social practices caused by rushing in.
Here are five "antisocial" steps businesses need to take before making the social plunge, in order to avoid such missteps and the resultant damage to their brands:
1. Do I really need to be social? Social media is best suited to address customer service queries of low-to-moderate complexity. Complex queries will involve significant back and forth and one-to-one communications that are often not relevant to the broader community.
2. Get picky about the venue. One size does not fit all when it comes to social media. As an example, social "clubs" like supplier-moderated or third-party-moderated forums are more appropriate for B2B businesses, for instance, than broad social networks like Twitter and Facebook. The more complex the products and service interactions, the better is the fit for focused media like forums and traditional one-to-one communications. Moreover, answers to complex queries do not lend themselves to the character limitations of a medium like Twitter, further limiting the fit. Pick the medium that makes sense for your business and prioritize your investments accordingly.
3. Get picky about the people. It is important to prioritize social customer service based on the financial and influence value that the social customer brings to the business. The Pareto principle applies here as well--a minority of social customers is likely to add the most financial value and wield the most social influence. Businesses are better off focusing on these high-priority customers before expanding their social efforts to the broader market.
4. Don't be impulsive. The speed of social can thrill or kill. The velocity of market influence and the resulting brand enhancement, or damage, is exponentially higher in social media than traditional one-to-one communication channels. This applies to business brands (e.g. "United Airlines broke my guitar" incident) or personal brands (e.g. Tiger Woods). Furthermore, customers often go social with their complaints when traditional customer service channels fail.
So, there's less room for error in social customer service, and the speed and quality of responses need to be much higher in social media than in traditional channels. Make sure your organization has the policies, technology, knowledge, process and people in place to provide high-speed, high-quality customer service that is required by social media before jumping in. No social is better than bad social!
Furthermore, organizations need to make sure that they do not create a social interaction silo that is disconnected from traditional interactions of the social customer with the business. Cross-channel amnesia on the part of businesses is a common problem in traditional media, and customers wouldn't want to see it extended to social media as well.
In fact, a Pan-European survey of 4,000 telecom subscribers in 2010 revealed that customer service basics such as getting knowledgeable and consistent responses within and across traditional one-to-one communication channels was more important to them than social customer service or access to human agents.
5. Research before you leap. While social engagement and interactions take time to prepare for, businesses should start monitoring social networks suited to their business sooner rather than later. This will help them identify opportunities they could leverage and issues they need to defuse, as well as make the internal business case for implementing social customer service and obtain funding.
A final word
Social customer service can enhance customer experience and brand loyalty. However, an "antisocial" wet-foot-first approach rather than an "ultra-social" jump-headlong approach will increase the odds of success.
While going social in customer service makes sense for many businesses, it might pay to be "antisocial" first, meaning a deliberate approach to social media customer service will maximize the odds of success. It is not uncommon for businesses to simply rush into social without giving themselves adequate time to assess the need, develop a strategy, formulate policy and practices, and put the required technology, process and people infrastructures in place. The Web is rife with examples of poor social practices caused by rushing in.
Here are five "antisocial" steps businesses need to take before making the social plunge, in order to avoid such missteps and the resultant damage to their brands:
1. Do I really need to be social? Social media is best suited to address customer service queries of low-to-moderate complexity. Complex queries will involve significant back and forth and one-to-one communications that are often not relevant to the broader community.
2. Get picky about the venue. One size does not fit all when it comes to social media. As an example, social "clubs" like supplier-moderated or third-party-moderated forums are more appropriate for B2B businesses, for instance, than broad social networks like Twitter and Facebook. The more complex the products and service interactions, the better is the fit for focused media like forums and traditional one-to-one communications. Moreover, answers to complex queries do not lend themselves to the character limitations of a medium like Twitter, further limiting the fit. Pick the medium that makes sense for your business and prioritize your investments accordingly.
3. Get picky about the people. It is important to prioritize social customer service based on the financial and influence value that the social customer brings to the business. The Pareto principle applies here as well--a minority of social customers is likely to add the most financial value and wield the most social influence. Businesses are better off focusing on these high-priority customers before expanding their social efforts to the broader market.
4. Don't be impulsive. The speed of social can thrill or kill. The velocity of market influence and the resulting brand enhancement, or damage, is exponentially higher in social media than traditional one-to-one communication channels. This applies to business brands (e.g. "United Airlines broke my guitar" incident) or personal brands (e.g. Tiger Woods). Furthermore, customers often go social with their complaints when traditional customer service channels fail.
So, there's less room for error in social customer service, and the speed and quality of responses need to be much higher in social media than in traditional channels. Make sure your organization has the policies, technology, knowledge, process and people in place to provide high-speed, high-quality customer service that is required by social media before jumping in. No social is better than bad social!
Furthermore, organizations need to make sure that they do not create a social interaction silo that is disconnected from traditional interactions of the social customer with the business. Cross-channel amnesia on the part of businesses is a common problem in traditional media, and customers wouldn't want to see it extended to social media as well.
In fact, a Pan-European survey of 4,000 telecom subscribers in 2010 revealed that customer service basics such as getting knowledgeable and consistent responses within and across traditional one-to-one communication channels was more important to them than social customer service or access to human agents.
5. Research before you leap. While social engagement and interactions take time to prepare for, businesses should start monitoring social networks suited to their business sooner rather than later. This will help them identify opportunities they could leverage and issues they need to defuse, as well as make the internal business case for implementing social customer service and obtain funding.
A final word
Social customer service can enhance customer experience and brand loyalty. However, an "antisocial" wet-foot-first approach rather than an "ultra-social" jump-headlong approach will increase the odds of success.
