Social media customer service is the do of using social tools to resolve customer questions or concerns. Social customer support is highly constructive because it allows customers to accomplish your team on the platforms they already apply.

Bonus: Get a free, easy-to-apply Customer Service Report Template that helps yous rail and summate your monthly customer service efforts all in 1 place.

Why should you comprise social media customer service solutions into your business program? It's simple: People desire brands to offer social media customer support.

  • 1 billion messages are exchanged between people and businesses every calendar month on Facebook Messenger.
  • seventy% of people expect to bulletin businesses more than in the future for customer service questions.
  • 64% of people would rather bulletin than call a business.
  • xviii.7% of U.S. social buyers completed their most recent purchase without leaving the social app. When users are buying directly on social, it's not intuitive to seek customer care anywhere else.
  • Forrester predicts digital client service interactions will increase past forty% in 2021.
  • Banks that rank highly for social media respond to customer service replies within an hour.
  • 59% of make replies to user Tweets occur inside fifteen minutes.
  • Withal, this number drops to 30% when brands practise not have a separate customer service Twitter account.
  • 45% of brands took more than five days to answer to letters through their Facebook Pages
  • 9% of brands don't answer to comments on Instagram, and 16% don't reply to comments on Facebook.
  • 69% of U.Southward. Facebook users who message businesses say information technology makes them feel more confident nearly the brand.
  • forty% of holiday shoppers say they are more likely to consider buying from a make they can message.
  • threescore% of Internet users say bad customer service is a concern when making an online purchase.
  • 36% of respondents to a U.S. survey said "nifty customer service" is a motivation to recommend a brand online.

i. Fix a dedicated handle for social media customer back up

Your customer service team can likely address client questions faster and in more than detail than your social marketing squad can. The social media and customer service stats above evidence a customer service Twitter business relationship is more likely to reply within xv minutes.

That's why it tin can exist a practiced thought for brands to use a separate social account to offer social media customer service solutions. For example, Hootsuite uses @Hootsuite_Help, which is run past the support team.

Hootsuite Help Twitter page

Source: @Hootsuite_Help on Twitter

This helps filter out support and service issues from your primary aqueduct. It besides ensures you assign the right teams to monitor the correct types of incoming public messages.

If you lot create a dedicated social channel for customer back up, include that handle in your make'due south other social profile bios. This lets people know where to reach out for support-related requests.

People will still use your main social marketing handles to contact you with back up and service bug. They might simply apply the brand handle they already know, rather than looking at your master profile to check for a support account.

If a service asking comes into your main social channel, pass it along to the correct team and respond from your back up business relationship.

2. Find and monitor conversations relevant to your business organization

Of form, many people will also post messages about your business online without tagging any of your social accounts. Some of these posts might warrant a client service response.

That ways you can't wait to exist tagged in social media customer support requests. You need to monitor conversations about your brand. Then you tin reply to customers who accept a service issue—even if they didn't reach out to you.

3. Create social media guidelines

Social customer support has dissimilar challenges and opportunities from social marketing. But information technology'southward no less important to have social media guidelines in place.

These should marshal with your company values and with the social marketing team.

Your brand guidelines for social client support should cover things such every bit:

  • Tone of voice
  • Response time for each aqueduct
  • Answers to often asked questions
  • Protocol for escalations or other client problems
  • A bulletin approval procedure and a permission management system

4. Exist proactive

If customers regularly accept the same questions, that's a clue yous need to provide some self-service information resources.

Your social media client service channels are great places to share educational content. For example, you lot could create a how-to video or best practices web log post. It's all about helping customers learn how to get the most from your products.

If y'all offer an online service, you could besides post updates almost any known service bug.

These resources will assist reduce the number of support requests that come in. They're too an piece of cake identify to refer people with simple back up questions.

Pinned posts and Instagram Stories highlights are bang-up places to provide cocky-help resource.

five. Expand your idea of what customer service tin can be

Think broadly about what qualifies as a customer service issue. How companies apply social media for customer service varies widely. It doesn't have to exist just about resolving issues and complaints.

Customer service tin can include anything that makes your customers experience more than continued to your make. It should make them more than comfortable buying, using, and recommending your products.

6. Manage customer expectations

Customers don't expect all companies to offer the same levels of client service on social media.

A recent written report found that customers who pay more for their services await a higher level of social customer intendance. Another study constitute that higher-revenue airlines offering more than empathetic customer care on Twitter.

Of course, how companies use social media for client service will vary based on the size of the available squad.

The most important thing is to set up customer expectations appropriately. Brand information technology articulate when your service team is available, and how long information technology might take y'all to respond. If there are other resource they can use to get answers faster, permit them know.

seven. Always answer

This may sound obvious, but it'due south a rule not all companies follow. As you saw in the social media client service stats higher up, the majority of brands respond to comments on Facebook and Instagram, simply not all.

People request questions of your brand on social media may or may not be your customers (however). Answering all questions on social channels shows that you accept responsive customer service. This proves to potential customers that you lot care nearly your clients' needs.

A potential customer who reaches out for support and doesn't get it will probable motion on to your competition instead.

8. Respond quickly—with templates for common questions

Just responding is non enough. When customers achieve out to brands on social, they expect a fast, friendly response.

Your Facebook Page reveals right upfront whether yous answer rapidly to client letters. If you answer to 90% of letters and have a response time of xv minutes or less, you lot'll go a Very Responsive to Messages badge.

Your social client service may not be available 24/7, and that's okay. You only need to set customer expectations accordingly.

Make your social customer service hours of availability clear. Let customers know when you're going offline. Provide links to self-assist solutions. Direct them how to attain other client service channels (like your call heart) in the concurrently.

On Facebook, use Away Messaging to provide an automatic response when your social customer back up team is offline. Messages received during your Away times don't count towards your Very Responsive status.

You tin can also use Instant Replies on Facebook to send a canned response to all initial messages. This is particularly useful during busier-than-normal times. Yous can set customer expectations in terms of when you lot'll be able to reply personally.

You can even use Facebook's customization options to include the person's first proper noun and/or final name to brand the reply more personal.

Yous can observe footstep-past-step instructions on how to set both Abroad Messaging and Instant Replies in our Facebook Messenger guide.

Instagram has a like feature called Quick Replies. You can pre-write answers to common questions so yous tin reply apace with simply a couple of taps.

nine. Effort a chatbot for common service requests

Chatbots are a great mode to offering bones social customer service 24/7. Always-on capability was the summit benefit of AI-powered chatbots in a survey of global banking and insurance customers.

benefits of using AI interactions for global banking and insurance customers

Source: eMarketer

Chatbots tin can give customers the information they want immediately. That'southward an important resource when your team is offline. Bots tend to piece of work best for simple questions that you get oftentimes.

10. Use the right channels—most likely Facebook and Twitter

For your social customer care to exist effective, you lot've got to use the channels where your audience already spends their time.

Monitor social platforms to encounter where people are already talking about your company online. This will give you a skillful sense of what channels to prioritize for your social media client service.

Consumer Reports plant people are almost likely to complain on the platforms where they are about active. Of consumers who posted complaints on social media, 84% used Facebook and 26% used Twitter.

11. Take public conversations individual

Customers may contact you lot on social with questions or requests that would be better addressed through a private channel. For instance, you might need confidential information like a booking number or business relationship proper noun.

On Facebook, y'all tin respond to a public comment with a private message. This takes the conversation to Facebook Messenger, where you tin collaborate more confidentially. Beneath the client's comment, just click Bulletin to reply privately.

Once you ship your bulletin, a note will announced under the comment that says "Folio responded privately." This shows other users that you lot addressed the asking, even though your response is not visible.

If you lot respond past DM on Instagram or Twitter, make sure to add a comment and then the customer knows to check their DMs. Others can then too see you reached out privately to resolve the event.

Let's accept a look at how companies utilize social media for client service with some real-world examples.

Starbucks: Social listening for customer service opportunities

Starbucks knows that not all social posts that mention a brand will tag the make business relationship. That'due south why they use social listening to monitor relevant brand keywords. They achieve out with a customer service response when warranted.

In this case, a customer Tweeted into the void wondering if Starbucks delivers. The social team promptly responded with details on how to order from Uber Eats.

Zappos: Legendary customer service for happy customers

Social media is often a place where people come to complain about brands or share negative experiences. Merely not Zappos. A surprising number of Twitter users call Zappos out for their unexpected levels of customer service.

Bonus: Get a complimentary, easy-to-use Customer Service Report Template that helps you runway and summate your monthly customer service efforts all in one place.

Get the template now!

Their secret is a fast and effective response to all customer queries. Plus, a tone that strikes the correct residue betwixt friendliness and practicality.

Lush: Online shopping FAQ in Instagram Stories Highlights

Every bit we mentioned above, self-service social media client service options tin exist a adept style to accost common questions. They can as well help back up your customers even when your back up team is not available.

Lush created an Instagram Stories Highlight called "Means to Shop." It answers common questions about things like:

  • packaging
  • how to access product consultations when stores are closed
  • the process for curbside pickup.

Some of the highlighted Stories link to additional support resource. This one, for instance, links to an FAQ page.

Lush Instagram stories highlight

Source: @LushCosmetics on Instagram

Bollé Brands: Instagram virtual try-on

With customers unable to try on frames in a store, Bollé Brands created a social customer support feel on Instagram.

Potential customers tin meet what frames wait like on their face up using Instagram'southward augmented reality filters. They can also get a sense of what it'south similar to look through the product'due south polarized lenses.

Instagram virtual try-on Bolle Brands

Source: @bolle_eyewear on Instagram

For ski flavour, they've created a new AR filter that allows users to nigh try ski goggles. These social customer support experiences replace interactions that would usually happen in-store.

Social media customer service solutions and tools

Sparkcentral by Hootsuite

Sparkcentral past Hootsuite helps manage incoming social media customer support queries through:

  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • Facebook Messenger
  • WeChat
  • WhatsApp
  • your own digital channels like your website or app

You can manage all these conversations through automated bulletin distribution. This integrates with existing ticket distribution functions in your customer service contact center. It works with CRM systems similar Zendesk, Microsoft Dynamics, and Salesforce.

Sparkcentral uses AI-powered chatbots to accost simple support queries. Alive agents can footstep in when needed. This partitioning of labor between humans and bots increases productivity and client satisfaction.

Hootsuite

Hootsuite can help you with social media customer service in iv fundamental ways.

1. Identify conversations that require a service response

Use boards and streams in Hootsuite to monitor multiple networks for conversations around your make. Then, yous tin can rapidly respond to back up requests, even when y'all're non tagged. Here's how to practice it:

2. Store and share reusable support content

Employ the Hootsuite Content Library to shop, organize, and share pre-approved social customer support content. This helps amend response times while keeping things accurate and consistent.

iii. Assign messages to social customer support team members

Assign incoming support requests directly to customer service team members. This makes sure nothing falls between the cracks. Information technology'southward a great way to connect customer back up team members with messages that come in without tagging your customer support handle.

4. Track, measure, and ameliorate your back up performance

Hootsuite Analytics lets y'all measure and share the impact of your social client back up efforts. This lets you see what'south working and improve on what'south not.

Y'all'll see how long it takes your squad to answer to and resolve incoming Tweets, Facebook comments, and private messages on Twitter or Facebook.

Zendesk

The Zendesk app for Hootsuite allows you to create tickets in Zendesk from social messages on Twitter and Facebook. You can road tickets to other squad members and respond directly to social posts from Zendesk.

You can access ticket details such as:

  • consequence status
  • requester
  • field of study
  • description
  • comments
  • groups
  • assigned team members

Yous can add together internal notes and update and edit tickets straight from your Hootsuite dashboard.

Freshdesk

With the Freshdesk Hootsuite app, yous can convert social conversations into support tickets. Y'all can then manage those tickets as they piece of work their mode to resolution.

Y'all can add notes to the ticket within the Hootsuite dashboard. Then you tin search and filter tickets based on name, appointment created, keywords, and ticket number.

Automat

Automat uses conversational artificial intelligence to create intelligent bots for social direct messaging.

Automat bots understand free-form text and can paw a conversation off to a homo customer support amanuensis when needed.

ClickDesk

ClickDesk is a live conversation app you can utilise to connect with people reaching out to your brand on Twitter. Using a private interface, customer service agents can resolve customer support bug in real time.

Reply.ai

Reply.ai is a chatbot solution for Facebook Messenger. It uses conversational bogus intelligence to interact with customers in multiple languages. When human being help is needed, your team will be notified through Hootsuite Inbox.

SnapEngage

SnapEngage is a tool that allows you to send URLs inside Twitter to initiate a live chat session. Enabling Tweet-to-chat can increment customer satisfaction and reduce support email book.

Save fourth dimension building an efficient customer support system on social media with Hootsuite. Respond to questions and complaints, create tickets from social conversations, and work with chatbots all from i dashboard. Endeavour it free today.

Get Started

Manage every customer inquiry on a unmarried platform with Sparkcentral. Never miss a message, improve customer satisfaction, and save fourth dimension. Come across it in action.

Free Demo