Many small, medium and large businesses are using social media to increase brand awareness, help increase reputation, web traffic, sales and leads. Social Media has become an essential part in online marketing strategies of many businesses. One significant component of social media is its ability to provide customer service. Even now, many do not realize that social media platforms can be used to engage with customers and provide customer service.
According to Ragan/NASDAQ OMX Corporate Communications, 38% of businesses give preference to customer service in their social media goals. In addition, 87% of businesses use social media as a platform to increase the reach of their products and services. The top reason why businesses use social media is to increase their brand awareness. Increasing brand awareness is further followed by increasing web traffic, lead generation, business reputation, increasing sales and finally customer service.
Today, social networking sites are actively been used as a tool to search reviews on products and services. More than 60% of consumers use social media as a platform to know more about a business and its products and services. Many businesses have not yet used social media to its fullest extent, though customers are well ahead and active in social networking. Receiving negative feedback is the reason behind some businesses staying away from using social media as a customer service tool. However, businesses that take negative feedback in a positive sense and work towards rectifying the situation actually look better.
Results of a survey conducted among socially active customers reported that 88% of the respondents are far less likely to return to a business that did not answer their queries through social media. At the same time, 55% of the socially active consumers expect businesses to respond to their queries on the same day. Most social media platforms have tools that keep you updated whenever a customer has submitted a query or message. Responding and acknowledging your customer only takes a few minutes and those few minutes make a huge impact on your customer and your overall business. Satisfied online customers are more likely to write rave reviews about your business and share them with others. So remember that there is a lot more to social media then trying to increase your customers, you also have the ability to maintain your current customers to keep them coming back for more.
