Social media and customer service
Social media is a vital communication platform and key customer service tool for businesses and organizations. Social media provides businesses the opportunities to offer instant customer service and can also help build brand validity, awareness, and exposure to core, niche or mass audiences. Similarly, it can improve customer relations and extend your brands reach across the Web. To learn more, checkout the infographic below created by the University of Southern California’s Online Master of Science in Applied Psychology program.
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Social Media Offers Faster Communications
From Facebook to Twitter, the social media platforms offer businesses faster modes of customer communications. In fact, customers are only willing to wait on phones for minimum times only. Around 77% of consumers believe the best form of customer service a company can offer is valuing their time. With this in mind, companies should switch over from traditional customer service portals to social media platforms. This helps them answer any questions, while resolving customer disputes or concerns in a timely and professional manner.
Social Media for Business - Stats and Figures
According to Forbes Magazine, social media creates more substantial personal relationships with your customers. It also helps increase any brand's visibility, while establishing companies as professional and vital entities. With strong market penetration power, 74% of adults utilize some form of social media networking. In fact, 71% of adults use Facebook, while 23% use Twitter. These numbers should be of significance to new and existing commercial brands, especially when it comes to online customer service and client relations. Social media for customer service is not only faster, but also an easier and transparent way to communicate.
Social media customer service is also considered truly cost-effective. In fact, it costs around $1 per interaction, while traditional telephone service costs around $6. People also spend more time on social media networks - raising the demand for customer service across these platforms. In fact, Americans spend - on average - 37 minutes per day on social media. 70% of Facebook users log on daily, while 43% log on several times per day. These numbers prove that social media is rapidly becoming the preferred method for customer service, as well as connecting with friends, co-workers, colleagues, and business contacts. An amazing 67% now utilize Facebook and Twitter for customer service questions, concerns, and timely answers. That is more than half of the entire consumer marketplace in America!
Time to Jump Onboard
Competitors from across a myriad of industries have already switched over to social media based customer service. In fact, 67% of domestic and global businesses believe that social media customer services are the most important priorities for call centers. 35% of call center interactions are now done across social and digital platforms and if this trend continues, it will surpass phone calling (traditional and VoIP Internet phones) by 2017. Remember, VoIP is still heavily in use but has not necessary adopted and implemented direct correlation with social media platforms and networks.
Top Reasons Why American Companies Should Use Social Media
According to research and findings, 50% of customers use social media to find answers to their questions. This may be product or service related, along with requesting information on these items. 48% of American consumers use social media to share information with other customers. They also use these platforms to praise their favorite businesses and companies. This is done via customer reviews, product reviews, or industry citations. The latter plays a pivotal role in establishing higher visibility for companies across Google and other leading search engines. 46% of customers use social media to leave negative reviews for companies after a bad experience.
Customer Service and Its Effects on Company Brands
According to the Harvard Business Review, 40% of happy or satisfied customers will spend more time with a brand. In fact, they are three times more likely to recommend a brand as well - especially if they experienced great customer service. 42% of consumers will also tell friends and co-workers about a brand that they life. They will tend to leave positive reviews - and most -likely will help the brand grow and flourish with returning and recurring business. 74% of customers have spent more money due to great customer services. Three out of four consumers have also spent more money due to a great history of customer service with specific brands.
Other Facts and Figures
86% of buyers will certainly pay more for better customer service, however only 1% of consumers feel that vendors are consistently meeting their needs and goals. In addition, companies with social care programs usually experience a 7.5% year over year increase in customer retention. Those without social care experience only a 2.9% increase. When companies choose to engage customers over social media - they will see these groups spending 20% - 40% more money with these businesses than other customers do. Sadly, U.S. brand lose $41 each year due to poor customer service experiences.
Companies That Are Doing it Right
Many brands benefit from utilizing social media in their customer service efforts, including Jet Blue, Whole Foods Market, Xbox, and Royal Dutch Airlines (KLM). For companies that have not started using social media for customer service, now is the time. In fact, this growing trend is rapidly becoming the norm as opposed to the exception. With more companies now switching over to social media customer service, traditional phone calling will soon become as obsolete as desktop computers.
