The customer service world was abuzz last week with Facebook’s launch of a new feature that allows businesses to privately message individuals who leave wall posts or comments on their business pages [Click here for the complete article on Tech Crunch]. Earlier this year Facebook unveiled the Messenger for Business app that was touted as the inbox that would enable businesses to directly connect with customers at the point-of-sale on their websites. With so many exciting developments on the app front, service organizations really need to up their game to provide a high-quality service experience to their customers on social media.
If you are an organization that is planning to or has just started dipping its toes in social customer service, the following CEB resources will help you in implementing a successful social media strategy:
1. Create a Service-Specific Strategy for Social Media: Companies new to the social media space should establish a cohesive corporate-wide policy that outlines the type of involvement that employees can have on behalf of the company. An effective policy reflects the company’s culture as well as ensures that your reps are treating your customers with courtesy and empathy. Before starting out, companies must spend some time listening to existing customer conversations about their company on social media and be well-prepared to answer the most commonly-asked questions.
2. Hire the Right Talent for Social Media: Problem solving skills and the ability to exercise good judgment are essential skills that your social media service reps need to possess. In addition to this, advanced subject matter knowledge is often required because of shorter expected response times and the fact that customers who post on social media sites tend to have more complex issues. Experienced companies supplement new hire training with a week of social media training that cover rules of engagement, blogging values, and confidentiality/privacy policies.
3. Arm Staff with the Right Guidance for Social Media Responses: Service leaders need to ensure that the collective voice of the brand/company is consistent across multiple social media channels (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn). One way companies can do this is by providing specific in-the-moment guidance to their service reps. They can develop easy-to-use ‘decision trees’ or ‘visual maps’ that capture the most common customer questions and provide guidance on how reps should tailor their responses or if they should even respond at all.
CEB Customer Contact members can learn more about their peers’ experiences and our findings here.
Additionally, we’re very excited to announce that our team is currently working hard on new member resources for social media strategy, which should be published to the website in the next few months. So keep an eye out!
CEB Customer Contact Resources:
- Social Media and Customer Service: Using Web 2.0 to Drive Customer Loyalty (featuring Bank of America and Best Buy)
- Social Media and Strategy
- Hire and Manage Social Media Staff
Related CEB Customer Contact Blogs:
- Who’s Serving Your Customers on Social Media (Part 1 of 2)
- Who’s Serving Your Customers on Social Media (Part 2 of 2)
- How G.M. Has Fueled the Social Media Discussion