How to deal with direct social media contact effectively

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How to deal with direct social media contact
effectively

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The development of social media networks has done
wonders for enabling small and medium businesses
to really get themselves out there and to
compete with the bigger brands. However, along
with the many positives which can come from
utilising social media effectively, there are
also a number of negatives and these must be
taken into consideration when thinking about how
social media can work for your company.
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One of the biggest problems companies face is
that of direct, public contact from a customer.
Social media is global, it is visible and it is
not something you can tuck under the carpet, so
if a customer reaches out to you with a
complaint, you must have the proper policies in
place to allow employees to deal with it
effectively.
If you are unfortunate enough to have to deal
with a complaint or bad feedback from a customer
then it is imperative that you deal with it
quickly and efficiently. For this reason, you
might consider hiring a social media management
agency to deal with online moderation, as they
will have the expertise to manage the complaint
effectively. However, if you decide to navigate
the world of social media yourself then here are
some top tips-
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Get It Offline
Whilst you want potential clients to see that you
are taking every complaint seriously, you also
dont need every detail aired in public. Respond
to the message asking the complainant to contact
you via private message with a contact number so
that a member of your customer service team can
call them straight away. This will avoid any
unnecessary escalation in the public arena,
especially if the customer is upset.
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Always reply and do it quickly
A prolonged delay in responding to an unhappy
customer will only impact negatively on your
company and there is really nothing worse in the
world of social media than ignoring or removing a
negative message. It not only looks dishonest
but it will also appear that you are uninterested
in the customers problem which will cause other
customers to lose confidence in you and
potentially go elsewhere. This is one of the
main reasons why you should consider involving an
external social media management agency who can
monitor your accounts on a regular basis and
ensure that no comment is missed, even if just by
accident.
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Educate Your Staff
If you have employees monitoring your social
media accounts then it is important that you
create policies and guidelines which will help
them to deal with complaints effectively. They
need to know how to react, and what steps to take
without panicking.
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Advertise Opening Hours
Unless you are a major global corporation, it is
unlikely that you will have someone manning your
social media networks 24 hours a day. However,
that doesnt mean that you wont receive direct
contact at all hours.
For this reason, you should clearly advertise the
hour in which the social media network is
overseen so that if someone contacts you out of
hours, the delay is responding to their comment
is easily explained.
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Thank You

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