5 Things Most Companies Do Wrong In Customer Service on Social Media
1. Ignoring negative comments
Most companies are afraid of negative comments on their Social Media profiles and is a major concern for Marketing Managers and Owners. Yet at the same time, many companies choose to ignore negative comments. By ignoring them, they don’t go away though. When I talk to my clients, I always try to encourage them to see negative comments as an opportunity. No customer expects your company to be perfect. What makes or breaks a deal is how you deal with issues though.
Just imagine how you would feel if you walked into a store to complain about a product or a service and the sales clerk just turns and walks away from you, totally ignoring you. This is not how a company should treat a customer, whether it’s in person, online or on the phone.
Use a negative review or comment as a chance to showcase how you treat your customers. Offer genuine support to resolve the issue and make your customer happy. Show that you care, just like you would want other companies to care when you had a sub-par experience with them. Most customers are not too unreasonable. Make it right and make them happy and they might even turn into a raving fan after the incident.
2. Deleting bad comments/blocking people
Deleting bad comments and blocking people is only ok if they are not following your commenting guidelines. While it is ok to delete spam and comments that use inappropriate language, it is not ok to delete negative comments just so your company does not look bad. My best advice for you is to not take it personally and see it as an opportunity for your company to make your product or service even better. Thank your customers for making you aware about this issue and how you are planning to fix it. Keep them appraised on the development, even before they ask.
Always remember that keeping a customer is much cheaper than finding a new one. Often times, you can even turn unhappy customers into raving company fans. One time, while my dad and aunt and uncle from Germany were visiting me, we went to a local Brewery for dinner. We had ordered a couple of beers and Nachos. When we were almost done chowing down our food, we discovered a tiny screw on the bottom of our Nacho plate. Nothing had happened, but we still showed it to the bar tender. Instantly, the restaurant manager was talking to us, asked if we were alright and if we wanted another plate of Nachos. As we were already full, we declined, but he nonetheless comped our whole bill (about 6 beers and the nachos). Guess what, my dad told the story of how Rock Bottom Brewery tried to “screw” us, but then provided such awesome customer service to so many people and every time he came back to visit me in San Diego, we had to go back to his favorite Nacho place 
3. Not have a Social Media Crisis plan
Dealing with individual complaints is still rather easy and does not need much planning to do right. But what happens when hundreds of customers experience the same problem or when a particularly unlucky incident goes viral and reaches a large audience? Most of these problems started out small and most likely could have been prevented if someone at the company had showed enough compassion and done the right thing.
Step up and make it right as soon as possible and don’t let the small mouse turn into a large elephant that can damage your company’s reputation and brand for many months or even years. Here is a detailed description how to create a Social Media crisis plan.
4. Unprofessional replies
Make sure that whoever has access to your company’s Social Media profiles and writes responses to your customers, has appropriate training and understanding how to provide excellent customer service on Social Media. I always cringe when I hear small business owners who tell me that their 16 year old niece is doing their Facebook for them. While I do understand that most companies cannot afford a dedicated Social Media coordinator, at least make sure the person that represents your company on platforms that can take your message to millions of people, knows what they are doing. Keep them appraised on what is going on at the company and who they should contact when they receive a negative complaint, or what to do if things spin out of control.
While there isn’t much truth on the internet, there is one absolute truth about the Internet: You can’t delete anything from the Internet! So, to make sure that your customers get the best impression of your company on Social Media, here are some points that you should keep in mind:
- Always create Social Media profiles from a dedicated email address that will stay with the company
- Train employees to represent your company online
- Create an action plan for a Social Media Crisis
- Delete/revoke access after (maybe even before) employee termination
- Create a Social Media policy
5. Learn from it
Even if your customer service on Social Media is excellent, there is one more step that you need to make. Make sure that your company learns from the feedback. Develop a plan that eradicates the root of the problem, rather than relying on customer service to make things right again. Your customers will start doubting your sincere apology, if they read in previous reviews that you have been aware of the issue for months or even years.
This step is not that easy, especially if you are the Marketing Manager and are not too involved in the Operations of your company. To make customer service on Social Media a success, you need to get the whole company on board. You need to collaborate with the customer service department to make sure your Social Media complaints are included in the customer care process. You need to work with product development or your service providers on how to make your customers’ experience even better and solving problems that they are experiencing. And then, you obviously need to the get owner/finance department on board to pay for it all.
So, how are you dealing with Customer Service on Social Media? Please share, if you found this article helpful!
via:http://jupiter-labs.com/customer-service-on-social-media/
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