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How to Use Facebook for Customer Service

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Did you know that there are just under 1.5 billion monthly active users on Facebook now? (see more stats here) And according to a study by Accent Marketing & reported by ZDNet, almost a third of consumers use Facebook for customer service… clearly, there is an opportunity here that a lot of businesses are failing to capitalize on!

Even if you do most of your business “in-person” (aka – local business or bricks & mortar), it is becoming essential for local business success to look at customer experience as an ongoing bell curve – the peaks are the in person interactions (or customer purchases) but the experience begins, and continues afterward on-line… and then peaks again with another purchase (that is… if you are doing it right!) Remember in our information overloaded and short attention span world, out of sight is out of mind… you don’t want to be out of mind and a customer focused presence on Facebook can help.

Below are some tips to help you SHINE on Facebook so your customers feel connected even when they can’t be with you. If you do it well, they will feel loved and appreciated, and continue to love you back. More love coming back to you will translate into future sales and positive referrals. WIN! :)

Set-up Facebook for Customer Service Success

When you set-up your Facebook business page there are a number of options for you to choose, which may be confusing to business owners when they are new to Facebook.

Local Business options

If your business has a physical location, be sure to choose the “local” category for your page. This will give you the ability to list your physical address, hours of operation, map, and allow customer reviews – all things that your Facebook followers will be interested in and expect to find on your page! This will also give you the ability to allow customers to “check-in”; and encouraging check-ins is a great way to gain extra exposure among your customer’s friends.

PRO TIP – If you find that you set something up wrong (like not choosing “local business” for your category) you can change it! Be aware that if you change from a local business to another category, however, you will lose all of your reviews.

Turn on Messaging

Under settings, there is an option to allow people to send you a private message on your page. This is another communication outlet for your audience and I highly recommend that you allow it. It can be helpful when you need private, on-line customer communication. If you enable private messages, be sure to set-up alerts so that you are able to respond quickly to the messages (see below).  As an added bonus for your quick response, Facebook has recently added a Badge that announces when a page is “very responsive to messages”. To earn this badge, a page needs to respond to more than 90% of its messages in less than 5 minutes, within the past 7 days. If your page doesn’t get many messages, you may not see this badge, but it will look great on your page if you earn one! If your page is not that responsive, only page admins will see the responsiveness rating (whew!). It will appear under your cover photo and let you know that you have something to work on.

Set-up Notifications

If you haven’t already done this, do it NOW! It is critical to service delivery to know when there is activity on your page, so that you can respond appropriately and in a timely manner; and frankly, you don’t want to have to live on Facebook checking for messages every few minutes! So your next step is to review your settings under “notifications”. You can ask to get an alert from Facebook (by email or text) every time there is activity on your page, or you can pick certain conditions that you want to be notified on such as when someone sends you a private message.

Use Facebook Apps to Extend Customer Service Options

There are many popular app functions to use in customizing the tabs on your Facebook business page for customer service. These include “Contact Us”, “Feedback/Quiz/Poll” or a “FAQ” as well as follower focused apps such as one that highlights the “Fan of the Week”. These are just a few examples, as there are a ton of options limited only by your creativity. :) If you are new to apps and curious to learn more about them or which company’s apps to use, check out this informative article on Facebook apps by Andrea Vahl.

Interacting on Facebook for Stand-Out Customer Service

Now for the fun part… once you have your Facebook business page set-up, you have to use it appropriately. Here are my top tips for customer service success on a Facebook page:

Promote Your Facebook business page

Following the above set-up perfectly won’t do any good if no one knows you are there to follow your page! If you have a physical location, the easiest way to get the word out is with obvious signage that your customers will notice when they visit. You can also include a small card with their purchase or a note on their receipt inviting them to connect on Facebook, and reminders on your emails. Many companies include an incentive to get their customers to “LIKE” their page and/or “check-in” or review them on Facebook. Ethical bribes can can go a long way to increase your following and allow you to stay in touch with your customers!

Listen to Your Followers

Isn’t this where all great customer service starts? Besides setting up email or text alerts as mentioned above, I recommend using the Pages App on your smartphone. The app will make it easier to get into your page and interact with your page followers when you are on the go and you can also enable “push notifications” (under settings) so that the app will alert you when your audience does anything requiring your attention.

Respond Quickly

Recent social media research shows that a large and growing number of consumers expect prompt customer service from businesses that they interact with on social media, and especially on Facebook. Even if you have to research an issue, always respond to your audience as soon as possible, and let them know you are working on it. Then you can earn that Quick Response Badge mentioned above, and everyone visiting your page will see how responsive you are to your customer’s needs.

Pick Your Form of Communication

If there is a public comment or review (negative or positive), it can help your business to respond publicly (at least partially). You don’t want to have a long back and forth, but a public response will help show everyone that you listen and are responsive. It is not a good idea to send your customer through hoops to get their answer or issue resolved. If they reached out on Facebook, they would probably like a response on Facebook rather than being told to call the office (& sit on hold, etc). You can also choose to respond with a visual aid, audio or video if appropriate – remember that you are not confined to just text and if you are helping someone with a “how to”, a video might be perfect and make your helpful response stand out.

Don’t leave them “Hanging”Facebook tips listen and respond

I see a lot of comments on pages that go without any kind of acknowledgement or response. This is a great way to discourage interaction on your page – your followers need to feel valued! If someone has taken the time to comment on your page, it is good manners to at least acknowledge that you read the comment with a “Like”. A personal response back is even better, but if you have a very busy page this is not always possible. In this case, try to address the common themes or glaring issues of a comment thread.

Make it about them

This is a “First Rule of Social Media” and does indeed lead to more happy and loyal followers. Don’t sell and promote yourself on social media the majority of the time. Use it to educate, entertain and listen to your audience, and you will gain loyal fans and brand advocates.

Be Human

Personalize your response to comments, reviews, etc. and try not to sound like a robot (or a corporate drone!). People want to interact with people. It is a common practice on pages with several community managers, that posts are signed with the name of the person posting. This helps everyone know who they are engaging with and eliminates the impersonal feel of a larger operation.

Show Appreciation to Your Followers

You don’t have to give away prizes or money (although that is always appreciated!), but don’t forget to thank your page followers often and call out to your most active advocates to make them feel special. Some pages offer special deals, contests or promotions that are only available to their Facebook followers. Be creative or get some inspiration from watching what other pages do. The more special you make your followers feel, the more loyal they will be to your business.

Facebook can be a great tool for staying front of mind with your past customers and prospects! It supplies a platform where savvy customer service focused businesses can really shine (or not). Because so many people enjoy Facebook and expect to be able to get the information they want there, local businesses need to adapt their customer service strategies to include this popular platform. How have you used Facebook to further your customer service initiatives? I would love to hear more ideas or examples in the comments below!

 

 

The post How to Use Facebook for Customer Service appeared first on Online Marketing Recipes for Service Business Growth.


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