Assisting Customers Through Social Media

Social media can serve as an excellent platform to connect customer service representatives with social networkers because the representatives can address each individual problem while simultaneously sharing the solution with every other social media user. It would be like combining the FAQ section found on company websites, with the Q&A capabilities of email communication. Rather than respond to multiple emails or phone calls about the same problem, one tweet/post with the solution could serve as a guideline for all the other social media users. Companies could archive the conversation in a Facebook tab, so that social media users can review past problems that might relate to their current issues. If they are unable to find the solution, they could then reach out to a customer service representative without ever having to leave the social networking site.

Futhermore, social media users can assist one another without the involvement of customer service representatives. Someone could write about their current issue on a company’s customer service page and a fellow social media user could post/retweet the solution. Of course, allowing social media users to 'help' one another could expose the company to new risks, which is why monitoring the conversation is extremely important. Bringing customer service representatives into social media can also help diffuse the negative comments written about companies. 

According to a recent study by ROI Research, 27 percent of recent appliance shoppers and 25 percent of recent automobile purchasers say they already use social networking sites to connect with customer service. More importantly, social media users believe that communication through sites such as Facebook and Twitter is beginning to replace other forms of communication. In fact, 53 percent of recent home furnishing shoppers say they agree that fan-based communications are beginning to replace other communication channels (e.g., email, direct mail, etc.). 

Some companies have already created separate accounts on social networking sites so that social media users can reach out to customer service representatives. However, they may not be taking full advantage of this opportunity because they are only utilizing this feature on one of their social media accounts. For example, Bank of America created a Twitter account, @BofA_Help in order to help, listen, and learn from their customers, but they have failed to create a similar account on Facebook. It is rather surprising that companies have been so reluctant to add social media to the repertoire of channels they use to connect consumers with customer service representatives. According to the ROI Research report, 29 percent of Facebook members and 39 percent of Twitter users said they enjoy interacting with companies and products through their social networking site. Companies should take the initiative to train/hire customer service representatives who are proficient social media users.

With a rapidly growing number of consumers using social networking sites, companies should start leveraging social media as an additional platform to connect customer service representatives with over 500 million Facebook members and over 190 million Twitter users. As those numbers continue to grow, people will begin to look for companies to provide old services in this relatively new channel.