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Social Media Marketing | 7 Tips For Good Customer Support On Facebook

Facebook should be one of the central pillars of most companies' social media marketing strategies. Whilst thisnetwork can often be thought of as fun, the figures about Facebook speak for themselves, and they're anythingbut.

Facebook is strictly business when it comes to people looking to market online for their company.

Whilst running an active business page and splashing out on Facebook ads will go a long way towards finding younew leads and making you more sales, there is another step. Customer support on Facebook.

But how do you offer customer support on a social network like this? Are there any special needs or tips? What willyour fans expect? Oxygen 2.0 will guide you through these questions and more with 7 tips in this blog. Read on...

Why Facebook Is All About Business

First let's re-examine my earlier comment that Facebook is all about business.

For most users it's a fun place to go catch up on what your friends have been doing, share your pictures, and getthe latest information from your favourite shows, bands, and brands. That's as far as the 'experience' goes.

However for people looking to use Facebook professionally it's much deeper than this.

Facebook has 1.3 Billion active monthly users.

Their first quarter profit in 2014 was US$642 million, up from US$219 million a year earlier.

They acquired 'WhatsApp' and "Oculus VR' for US$20 Billion this year

The relationship between users and profit is clear, as FB leverages its huge user base against your need foradvertising, gaining money as businesses like yours pay them to target their relevant users. You can eitheradvertise a company page, here's the Oxygen 2.0 Facebook page as an example, or simply advertise yourwebsite directly and send people straight there.

Even your own Facebook profile is being targeted right now by any number of advertisers who are hungry for yourbusiness, as every single like, comment, and detail that you share on FB effectively pigeon-holes you and makesyou ripe for targeting to the right company.

Advertising is fairly easy on Facebook (a subject we'll cover in other blogs), and so now that we know thatFacebook can be used effectively for business purposes to get you leads and customers, the next step is to workout what to do with those customers who are your fans on Facebook.

It's important to mention that Facebook alone isn't ideal for handling all of your customer support, as manycustomers will contact you via your site, email, or through whichever CRM suite you may have. However if you'respending money on Facebook ads you're going to be attracting fans and customers to your businesswho are mainly active there, so here are the 7 tips you must consider when it comes to customer support onFacebook.

1. Reply Quickly.

Social media marketing is all about speed and consistency. People want their information yesterday, being veryimpatient to wait thanks to the never-ending avalanche of new content pouring into their inboxes, streams, feeds,etc. Facebook is no different.According to CONVINCE&CONVERT, “42% of customers complaining in social media expect a 60 minuteresponse time.” That's very different to the traditional, "Replies by email within 24 to 48 hours!"

In the chart above, a study from Edison Research, you can see how social media users expect a response withinthe same day, and in fact many favouring within an hour or less!

Be on the ball! Make sure that there is a member of your team who is tasked with regularly checking yourFacebook account for questions and issues. There’s a really tangible ‘good feeling’ that can be sensed from

customers when they know that there is someone out there listening to them and caring enough to reply rapidly. Itis best to have a schedule for checking FB for customer questions etc several times a day. Morning, noon, andevening. In this way you can be sure to catch customer issues before too long has passed.On the other hand, if there are staff who are working on FB all day, then they will probably pick up any questionsand answer them as and when they come in.

2. Be Honest & Quickly Publicise Any Problems With Services Or Products

Many fans will be very vocal when it comes any issues that they face with your product or service, and this willmanifest itself in a public post of complaint more often than not!If there’s an issue, you should be the first to share the bad news. This could be a fault, recall, down-time, etc.Customers will appreciate that you’re taking responsibility, and your post will also give any interested partiessomewhere to ask their questions.

Here's an example of a good response from the Pottery Barn Facebook page. They replied promptly, honestly,and promised help:

PS.If a customer has posted something negative, it’s better not to delete it. Just answer honestly, and with humour ifyou can. There’s nothing wrong with that, and again it gives you a professional image. If you delete their negativefeedback then you may find that you open a can of worms! Others may ask why, or that that customer will return,even angrier this time!

3. Give Regular Updates To Your Facebook Fans

Keeping your customers updated on what is happening with your business that might be relevant to them, such asoffers, new product launches, price changes, etc, is probably the easiest way to give your customers support; asthis can be a part of your normal posting strategy. This could be a video, picture, or just a text post! You could then'promote' this post for a few dollars to be sure that most of your fans see it.

Here's a recent post that we shared on our FB page to a new blog post helping folks to understand why theyshould be using social media for business:

Some of your fans may not know this information, so the sharing of new ideas or information itself is customersupport at its purest.

Once again, every single post on your page could be replied to, and this in turn would need to be acknowledgedwith a reply from yourselves if needed.

4. Offer Special Exclusive Facebook Promotions

Everyone likes to feel special, right?

Rewarding your fans on Facebook is great customer service and helps to create a thriving community.

Here is a good example, a custom tab promotion that Qantas had on their page:

This offer is cool, as it not only allows you to win a trip from an airline that you like, but it also makes theirFacebook fans recommend other friends to the Qantas page in order to gain more fans in 'payment' for givingaway the trip.

What you offer is really dependent on your company, but you could offer regular exclusive deals, or giveawaysthat reward fans. This could be as part of a custom tab (like above) that you design where you’d also collectcontact details from new fans to add to your email list to advertise to later. On the other hand, you could give public praise to ‘super fans,’ perhaps these are really good customers, powerplayers etc. Make them into the FB cover image, or a post which is pinned to the top of your page's feed. Not onlywill you delight a fan, but it will also really impress your other fans.

5. Set Up Alerts To Notify You When Fans Post An Issue

Don't forget to activate notifications on your FB business page. This will send alerts to your team as soon as fanspost messages, replies, or comments, making the job of checking to see if anyone needs help that much easier.

To change the notification settings for your Page:

1. Click Settings at the top of your Page

2. Click Notifications

3. Click the box next to On Facebook to turn Facebook notifications on or off

4. Click the box next to Emailed to [your email address] to turn email notifications on or off

5. Click Save Changes

6. Create Helpful, Pre-Written Replies For FAQs

If you've been running a Facebook business page for a while you'll probably find that customers will ask several ofthe same questions time and time again. This is a good thing, however it can be a time-suck if you have to keeptyping out the same long message time after time.

I have used 'canned' responses to great effect to counter this issue.

On the one hand you want to help, but on the other you don't want to waste time. So save on file your pre-writtenposts, complete with links to the relevant resource that they need (this could be something like a price list or sizechart on your site if you're a clothing vendor, for example), and simply copy and paste them in as a reply as andwhen a customer needs help on your page. Trust me, you'll save loads of time, and be offering really professionaland swift customer support!

7. Don't Leave Customers In The Dark While You Are Helping Them

If a customer's issue will require extra time and support, don't delay responding to their message! It's tempting tojust plough on with getting to the bottom of what has happened, for instance locating a lost parcel, and thencontact the customer with good news. However by doing this the customer will feel that they have been ignoredand will be frustrated.It's better just to drop them a very quick message stating that you are currently working on resolving their problem,and that you'll get back to them. Also give them a time to expect your next contact from them.

Your Turn...

How does your business offer customer support on facebook? Do you have any other tips that you can share?How else do you provide support within your social media marketing plan? Please let us know by leaving acomment!

Need Help With Your Social Media Marketing?

Dealing with social media can be daunting for businesses as it moves at such a breakneck pace, and there are somany things to keep on top of. You can see the value of marketing online, but you don't have the time or man-power to do it.

That's OK, most companies don't!

That's why Oxygen 2.0 are here to help take care of your marketing. Regardless of whether you want to marketwithin your own country, or world-wide, we can help consult your business, offer a strategy of how you can bestuse social media to market your business, and carry it out for you!

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