How To Create a Social Support Strategy

Welcome to the age of the social customer Failure to respond via

social channels can lead to a increase in churn.

15%

More than 67% of consumers have used a company’s social media page for customer support.

— Gartner

— J.D. Power and Associates

Create social accounts that represent your brand

Use social to help customers faster

Remember that social networks are public

Use social to guide your product strategy

Form a social crisis management plan

Integrate social with your other service channels

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TABLE OF CONTENTSToday’s customers have a lot of power — and their voices are amplified exponentially on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other social channels. Not only do they research and interact with brands online, but they’re vocal about sharing their opinions. Most companies recognize the need to make social a part of their customer service strategy, and that they need to involve all of their employees — but they aren’t always sure how to get started or how to make customers happy on social. Read on to learn about 6 things to consider as you set your social support strategy.

Customers need to have a consistent experience every time they interact with your brand, so it’s vital to have the same look and feel on social that you do elsewhere. Your user name (or handle) is the most important way to express your brand on Twitter, so choose it wisely. It’s also a good idea to create a separate, dedicated support handle; that way, people can follow your brand and hear your latest news without having to see all the latest updates around support. Twitter and Facebook

1. Create social accounts that represent your brand

each require two profile images, so choose pictures that tell your business story. Be sure to use high quality images, especially if you’re a small business trying to take on bigger competitors. Social channels are often informal, so take a lighter, more personable tone in your descriptions and posts if that’s how you want to represent your brand.

CHECKLISTChoose a Twitter account name that accurately reflects your brand.

Consider creating dedicated Twitter and Facebook accounts for your company’s support.

Connect with customers by using a friendly, personal tone.

Social networks provide an awesome opportunity for you to help customers faster — if you use them correctly. With only 140 characters in a Tweet, you need to write cogent, concise messages, getting right to the point. Ignore formalities and don’t worry about writing out long sentences. (Need to save space? Use Bitly to create shorter URLs for your support center content, so you can send it to customers without using up all of your characters.) You can also use Twitter and Facebook to reach multiple customers at the same time. If 2-3 people ask the same question, you can answer them all in a single message. And, since social happens in near real time, you’ll probably hear from customers faster than ever. That means they’re expecting to hear back from you faster, too, so make sure you keep an eye on your account 24/7.

2. Use social to help customers faster

CHECKLISTKeep your messages short and to the point (and under 140 characters).

Keep a list of shortened links for support center content that you can send to customers.

Staff your social account 24/7 (especially if you offer global products or services).

Social is a great way for you to connect with customers by using a fun, friendly style. But hey, not too friendly. It’s best to create guidelines for everyone in your company as they will be representing your brand in public. You should also train social support agents before handing over the keys to your account. Since everything on social is public, you need to answer everyone — the haters, the lovers, and the people just RTing your blog post — so you don’t look like you’ve got something to hide. If you’re solving a problem quickly and in

3. Remember that social networks are public

CHECKLISTCreate guidelines for social support agents and be sure everyone is trained.

Answer everyone on Twitter quickly, politely, and helpfully — even the haters.

Exchange highly technical or sensitive information via email or phone.

public, people can see that you have a support team that’s open, effective, and knowledgeable. That doesn’t mean that you need to go into technical detail on the public Web; It’s better to defer complicated questions and take them offline. And don’t ever ask (or give) sensitive information on Twitter. Take it offline too.

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4. Use social to help guide product strategySocial networks offer an unparalleled opportunity to see what current customers — and potential ones — are thinking. If you track what people are talking about, and their issues and questions, you can learn a lot about what customers want to see from your products. It’s also completely acceptable to solicit feedback on social media, and there are tools that will let you create polls or surveys to do this easily. Because social media is visible to the masses, you can gain intelligence about your competition and see their new features and campaigns. If something’s working really well for them, you may want to consider doing it yourself. If a something is obviously falling flat, that tells you the approach they’re using probably won’t be effective for you, either.

CHECKLISTTrack the questions that are being talked about most and monitor negative comments.

Ask your customers for feedback through polls and surveys.

Monitor competitive content, campaigns, and new product innovations.

Social networks are at the intersection of customer service and public relations. Although crisis communications is traditionally the responsibility of your PR team, customers expect faster-than-ever responses when they look for help on social channels. If you have a major issue with your product or service, customers will be looking to you for support on social. Designate at least one person on your support team to be available 24/7 on social media. Work with your PR team early on to

5. Form a social crisis management plan

develop a worst-case scenario plan for how you will communicate and coordinate if something blows up. Not only will you need “PR-friendly” tweets around the issue, but you’ll also need to understand in advance how you can create a new page on your Facebook account to provide answers during a crisis (instead of posting detailed information on your homepage), or how you can get employees to share your message on LinkedIn.

CHECKLISTCreate a plan for addressing different social channels if you have an issue.

Make sure your social media, support, and public relations teams work hand-in-hand.

Designate at least one person on your support team to be available 24/7 on social media if needed.

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If you want to have truly 360-degree customer views, it’s important to have a customer service tool that integrates social with your other support channels. When everything’s in one place, you can respond from within your customer support interface and easily assign and report on cases. You can add social media information directly to your customer profiles and histories, and also set up notifications so you know right away when your high-value customers tweet at you. You can also see if your activities on social are having an impact by cross-referencing the people who have contacted you via Twitter with the results from your customer satisfaction surveys.

6. Integrate social with your other service channels.

CHECKLISTChoose a customer service tool that integrates social with other channels.

Configure your customer service tool to notify you when important customers tweet at you.

Cross-reference CSAT scores with customers that have contacted you via Twitter to measure effectiveness.

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