A wonderful customer service tool is social media.

You can demonstrate to other consumers how committed you are to meeting their needs by responding to client complaints and issues on social media.

There are a variety of ways to use social media for customer care, such as strategically using hashtags and creating a unique handle just for customer assistance.

This essay is intended for company executives who want to use social media to enhance their customer service initiatives.

Modern businesses use social media as a vital marketing tool, but it can also improve customer service. It's important to manage your social media presence properly if you want to avoid harming your brand and alienating potential paying customers in order to reap the benefits of this strategy.

As a second, more convenient means of communication with customers and vice versa, your company should have methods in place for managing customer service issues through social media. Additionally, it improves the reputation of your company and, if done wisely, raises your likelihood of becoming viral. A solid social media customer service plan at the very least offers the chance to establish a distinctive, remarkable, or even humorous company voice. (You would join many others, such as MoonPie and Denny's, in excellent company.)

According to Lindsay Patton-Carson, social media manager of Evoke KYNE, "customer service and social media have merged together." "You will unquestionably need to provide customer support on social media if your brand has social media pages. There is no getting around that.

When clients approach you, you need to demonstrate that you can be a valuable resource for them, according to Patrick Cuttica, director of product marketing at social media management business Sprout Social. Don't ignore them or fail to respond to their inquiries; the way you do so will frequently influence whether or not the consumer will use your brand again.

Businesses of all types should engage in expanding their social customer service initiatives because so many customers currently communicate through social media. Utilizing social media can help you provide better customer service. If you respond to customer complaints on social media in a timely manner, this positive exchange can assist you in building a foundation of devoted clients.

Make sure clients may contact you on their chosen channels if you want to communicate with them.

Brands should consider which social media channels their clients use and concentrate their interaction efforts there, according to Cuttica. "A brand must be present and accessible across the channels that their customers prefer in order to have a successful customer service strategy."

Key takeaway: By using social media for customer service, you may address queries and issues raised by clients while also cultivating a devoted clientele.

In addition to Mechi Annas Estévez Cruz, the founder of Una Vaina Bien Spanish, and social media specialist Gerille Rosado, Patton-Carson and Cuttica provided the following advice for small company owners who want to use social media as a tool for customer service:

1. Establish sincere customer relationships quickly.

Many companies use social media as additional platform for self-promotion and don't always reply to tweets or comments left by customers. By having conversations, you may use your social media profiles on Facebook and Twitter to create genuine connections.

You must answer within a reasonable amount of time, even though not responding at all can be detrimental to your business. Consumers expect a reaction to a social media complaint in 42 percent of cases within 60 minutes and in almost a third of cases within a half-hour, according to Convince & Convert data.

2. Make thoughtful use of hashtags.

According to Rosado, choosing a particular hashtag makes it easier for users to look up issues related to that hashtag. Particularly on platforms like Twitter, hashtags keep everything organized and simple to find. The hashtag can also be used to curate content and provide further details.

Three categories of hashtags to utilize include content, trending, and brand-specific, according to the web creation platform Wix. The creation of brand-specific hashtags for various campaigns may be just as useful as following trending and content hashtags, especially during the holiday seasons. For instance, Wix promotes its photography competitions with the hashtag #WixPhotography.

3. Pay attention to building a client advocate base.

One of the first things a consumer is likely to do after having a poor encounter with a business is post a terrible review online. Your company's strategy should be on delivering such outstanding customer service that you build a strong, loyal client base that will promote your brand if someone has something terrible to say rather than reacting to criticism.

A customer advocacy base, according to Hootsuite, is a collection of devoted, dependable clients and staff members who can advocate for your company. This market is frequently underserved because so many businesses undervalue the influence of devoted brand advocates.

4. Show receptivity.

Patton-Carson recommended paying great attention to the customer while responding to a complaint. It's crucial to listen carefully and demonstrate that you're doing so. Poor reaction is a result of inattention, which damages your brand's reputation. After all, your brand's response to a specific user is visible to more people than simply your followers.

A poor response is also one that is not given. People enjoy having their opinions heard and acknowledged, Patton-Carson added, whether they are critical or supportive.

According to her, a simple thank-you, like, or emoji can have a big impact on a personal level by letting the customer know that your brand is attentive and listening. Maintaining activity will show your followers, especially potential consumers, that your business is attentive to them and engaged on social media.

5. Be accessible.

Customers must be able to contact you in order for you to be able to respond to them successfully. According to Cuttica, brands frequently fail to provide adequate social customer service because they don't actively listen to and interact with their audience.

Social media monitoring can help brands who wish to provide efficient customer care on social media identify all posts that are relevant to their business or goods.

Chatbots can assist reduce the workload for human customer service representatives, according to Cuttica. The ability for companies to respond more quickly and effectively to each meaningful discussion depends on finding the correct mix between automated processes and easily reachable customer support representatives.

Inactivity results in missed chances for both easy money and nice interactions. Findings from a 2016 study in the journal Business Research indicate that social media engagement from brands generally leads to higher profits. The same year, Twitter reported similar findings regarding its users. Additionally, interactions with clients on social media have the potential to generate a high return on investment, particularly if you contract out social media administration to a different business or have a single employee solely responsible for account maintenance and content creation.

6. Keep discussions with strangers private.

Many dissatisfied or irate consumers tweet at your company or post public comments on your Instagram and Facebook page. If others publish or distribute these remarks, it could reflect poorly on your business.

You shouldn't ignore these messages, but you also shouldn't manage the entire encounter in front of the public. By sending an initial response in public and requesting to continue the conversation privately, you can demonstrate to other clients that you appreciate their opinions. For instance, if a consumer tweets that their purchase was broken upon delivery, reply to them with an apology and let them know that a member of your customer support team has contacted them via direct messaging.

Even good things should be communicated privately because it will demonstrate to your clients that you appreciate their feedback and aren't just after the spotlight. Spend some time conversing one-on-one with consumers to promote a more personalized customer service experience.

7. Create a different handle just for customer assistance.

For customer support needs, many businesses have a distinct social media account. In this case, your customer service account would be @yourbusiness help and your regular account would be @yourbusiness. In this manner, it will be simpler to categorize and mark consumer requests or concerns. Additionally, by concentrating on one account, your customer service team can start working on problems quickly.

Make sure to put a link to the profile in your main account's bio so that consumers may go there for support to expand the reach of this dedicated account. Even if you might still receive some requests for your primary account, you can forward them to the appropriate team to guarantee that each client gets the support they need.

Even if the consumer contacted the incorrect person, you should still react to every message or complaint using your customer care account because it will demonstrate to others how you handle requests.

Key takeaway: When using social media as a tool for customer service, be genuine, attentive, and responsive. You should also create a separate account for customer care support to point customers toward a more in-depth private chat.

You can utilize a variety of social tools to assist your demands for customer service:

Apps for messaging: Using messaging services like Facebook Messenger and ClickDesk is a terrific method to interact with your clients. So that you may address things privately, have them get in touch with you directly (or get in touch with them if they left a remark on your page).

Live chat: Because it offers prompt responses from actual live-chat representatives, live chat is an excellent solution for customer service.

Chatbots: Just like live chat, chatbots are ideal for quickly resolving client issues. Customers don't have to wait around for a response from a chatbot, even in the middle of the night, because responses are given right away. Chatbot use is also less expensive than hiring actual customer support personnel. However, because there isn't a real person on the other end of the line, the responses are robotic.

Tracking systems: Some programs and services assess the success of your social media customer care efforts by letting you know how quickly messages are answered and problems are resolved. You can then give your approval where it is required.

The key conclusion is that social tools like tracking programs, messaging applications, live chat, and chatbots can help you with social customer care.

Customer service guidelines make ensuring that everyone on staff is on the same page when managing unhappy clients or any queries and worries they may have. This is particularly crucial if you use social media for client service. To ensure that your efforts are dependable and consistent, you should develop a unique social media customer service policy specifically for your team.

To create your social media customer service policy, follow these steps:

Recognize the demands of your customers better. You can achieve this by conducting surveys, asking your customer service staff about their experiences with typical complaints or concerns, or asking them directly.

Make a statement about your vision. Create a concise vision statement outlining how you address these issues based on that study.

Align customer service objectives with customer needs research. Make sure your company's beliefs and goals for providing customer service are in line with those of your clients.

Introduce the policy to employees, especially new ones. All customer service staff should receive training on how to apply and adhere to this policy to make sure everyone is on the same page.

Regularly reevaluate. Review the policy at least once a year and whenever you feel that your customer service efforts could be improved.

Key takeaway: Creating a social media customer service policy can ensure that all of your staff are on the same page.

Additional reporting by Adryan Corcione and Jennifer Post. Source interviews were conducted for an earlier version of this article.