Social media has evolved into a dynamic arena where businesses and customers engage in a dialogue that is not just about likes and retweets but about resolving issues, building trust, and creating unforgettable brand experiences. The rise of social media customer service has transformed the ways companies provide support to their customers.
That is why utilizing social media platforms as a potential avenue for communication and offering customer support is not only essential but also mandatory in this digital age.
Mastering social media customer service in a connected world
Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp Messenger, X (formerly Twitter), etc., are a few applications that enjoy worldwide recognition and have millions of users. Human connections transcend boundaries, and social media is a wonderful example of how digitalization facilitates communication and outreach on a global scale.
Where customers lead, businesses and relevant brand support will follow. Today’s business leaders are increasingly experimenting with new digital channels to reach buyers, where social media has evolved from being a supporting player to a mission-critical component for brands and support teams.
Also read: Connect Your Instagram Business Account With ThinkOwl To Source Customer Inquiries
Reshaping support with social media customer service
All brands aspire to provide a personalized, seamless customer experience. All customer journey stages and interactions can be divided into stages like awareness, engagement, purchase, and post-purchase support to achieve that goal. The standard set by most brands is offering multi-channel support 24/7.
When you use social media customer service to resolve customer queries, such as replying to customer tweets, comments, and posts on Facebook, Instagram, and direct messages (DMs) on Messenger and WhatsApp, you are making an effort to meet them where they are.
And be assured that your ‘effort’ to connect with consumers will not be in vain. People want brands to offer social media customer support, as the following statistics prove.
- The social networking market is forecast to grow by US $163.6 billion during 2022-2027, accelerating at a CAGR of 16.9% during the forecast period.
- People and businesses exchange 20 billion monthly messages on Facebook Messenger alone.
- Almost 40% of consumers say having multiple options for communicating is the most important customer service feature for a business.
- 40% of consumers expect brands to problem-solve in the channels of their choice.
Two factors have contributed to social media's meteoric rise over the last couple of decades: large-scale internet penetration and digitalization. Universal appeal and ease of use have made social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and X (formerly Twitter) the digital behemoths we see today.
By leveraging effective social media customer service strategies and best practices, businesses can enhance their support outcomes and resolve issues efficiently to deliver a stellar customer experience.
- Dedicated customer support accounts: Many companies create separate social media accounts or profiles for customer support. These accounts are often staffed by trained support teams and are easily identifiable by customers seeking assistance.
- Monitoring brand mentions: Social media monitoring tools allow companies to track brand mentions, comments, and direct messages. This helps them stay informed about what customers are saying about their brand and respond promptly.
- Private messaging: Companies often encourage customers to send private or direct messages (DMs) to address sensitive or complex issues. This allows for more detailed and confidential conversations.
- Gathering feedback: Companies often use social media to solicit feedback from customers. They may conduct surveys and polls or ask direct questions to gauge customer satisfaction and gather insights for improvement.
Multichannel support through social media customer service
Seamless communication is key for seamless social media customer support. All communication channels must be duly monitored and supported. Multichannel customer service software supporting various social media channels becomes a critical requirement in customer support centers. With multichannel support for various social channels, you give your customers the freedom to reach you wherever they wish to, at their convenience.
Your support teams’ ability to receive customer communication from a wide array of social media platforms puts your customers in a comfortable space. Since they do not have to worry about whether their message has reached the intended team/department, this automatically ensures that your customers are more receptive to the resolution provided by support teams.
Various social communication channels—one inbox to rule them all
Multichannel support for customers does not have to be grueling for your support teams. A unified inbox saves valuable time and effort. No more individual monitoring of channels to provide social media customer service. The unified inbox brings all customer messages from various social channels, like Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, etc., into one inbox.
Irrespective of the channel, customer communication is guaranteed to reach your support teams. The result is a prompt and frictionless service to your customers provided by an empowered and happy support team that helps your business grow.
Advantages of a unified multichannel case inbox are as follows:
- Consolidated inquiries and cases from multiple channels into a single interface.
- Agents can respond more quickly to customer inquiries because they have a centralized location for monitoring and addressing cases.
- A single multichannel inbox promotes collaboration among support agents.
- Unified case management systems often come with robust reporting and analytics capabilities, which allow businesses to gain insights into customer behavior and channel performance, support team productivity, and enable data-driven decisions.
OwlDesk by ThinkOwl also supports custom channels. If an organization uses its own custom channels, like an in-house messaging portal or mail provider, etc., then they can connect that to OwlDesk and create cases from customer interactions that occur there. Thus, businesses are able to receive messages/emails in one place and then offer customer support from the same interface.
Conversation bots can be implemented on social channels for 24/7 virtual support
Unlocking social media customer support's full potential starts with having the right tools in place to collect data, process it, and provide faster results. Conversation bots are immensely useful and friendly tools that help businesses elevate their customer support quality and brand name. Now, imagine harnessing the power of an intelligent conversation bot within your social media communication and messaging channels. Would not that be wonderful?
OwlDesk lets you integrate conversation bots with popular messaging channels, allowing consumers to experience social media's familiarity, comfort, and convenience. Conversation bots create the foundation for brands to communicate smoothly with customers and can be integrated with various channels, aiding businesses in providing frictionless social media customer service. Let us explain how.
Conversation bots are virtual assistants who can guide and assist consumers through their journey. When support agents are unavailable, conversation bots can automatically answer customer queries. The bot reads the customer’s message (received from any social media channel) and tries to understand the problem. It then proceeds to articulate the best response.
Depending upon the complexity of the problem, the bot can either provide the solution or guide them through self-service channels. Thus, conversation bots can significantly reduce the average turnaround times of your support center. If, for any reason, the bot is unable to resolve an issue or if the customer’s issue is far more complicated and needs human attention, the bot can ensure the ticket gets routed to a human support agent.
Also read: Bringing Customers And Businesses Closer With Technology To Create Awesome CX
Social media is critical for a digital-first CX strategy
Social media customer service has become an indispensable part of service and support delivery because brands, in their pursuit of multichannel engagement, are incorporating more channels (like social media) alongside more traditional communication channels.
Addressing complaints, answering questions, providing guidance, responding to online reviews, and issuing refunds are all activities that can be carried out on social media platforms. Utilizing social media helps brands augment their customer support activities and improve their brand name.
Benefits of utilizing social media for customer service are as follows:
- Proactive outreach to customers to drive customer loyalty.
- Seamless experiences across traditional and digital interactions.
- Accurate, relevant responses based on customer intent and interaction history.
- Personalized service on customers’ preferred platforms, reinforcing positive brand perception.
Conclusion
The modern customer is at the intersection of multiple touchpoints where brands meet tech through apps, AI bots, messengers, etc. They demand smart communication with a human touch; that’s the bottom line. Social media customer service helps brands attain that goal. With ThinkOwl, you can successfully reach that goal. Leverage your business’ potential by signing up today for a 30-day free trial.
