Today, people want, love and expect businesses to have an active social media presence. This also means having an active social presence that can help satisfy customer service needs with real-time responses.

If you’re not using social media to assist your customer service needs, or if you’re looking to make improvements, here are 5 tips to get your social customer service off the ground.

1. Answer customer questions and concerns in a timely manner.

We live in an instant gratification world and people desire quick responses. Check your social networks consistently to monitor and respond to questions and/or complaints, and build this into your daily routine. Responding quickly goes a long way when it comes to making people feel heard and valued.

2. Don’t erase complaints.

Often, issues will arise and someone will air their grievances on your social network for all to see. Your first inclination may be to erase. But, this can do more harm than good. If other people see this issue, but also see that you’re doing everything in your power to resolve it, the upside can be incredible. Most people understand that problems come up, and when you handle it in an open forum, it allows all your customers know that service is your top priority.

3. Create a dedicated social channel on Twitter.

Twitter has become a customer service mecca. People flock to Twitter to voice their concerns, ask questions, and gain resolutions to their issues. While you can and should have a single Twitter handle for your business, it’s also nice to have a dedicated support-only Twitter handle. List your support Twitter handle on your “contact us” or support page on your website, blog and/or Facebook, link to it from your main Twitter business handle, and link up both sites so you can monitor them equally. If you have a support person or team, give them access to manage that account specifically.

At VerticalResponse, we implemented a support handle several years ago and it’s very effective for handling issues, which also keeps our main business Twitter feed open to share news, content, etc.

4. Check your Facebook Messages and Posts to Page.

Facebook has made a lot of changes to their page layout over the last several months, so it’s important to know where and how customers can contact you. Two features you need to stay on top of regarding customer service are Messages and Posts to Page. Anyone (whether they like your page or not) can reach out to your business with a question or concern via Messages. If you’re a page administrator, Facebook will notify you of any messages. You can also click on the messages link in the “This Week” box on the right-hand side of your page to access them. Any comments made in the Posts to Page section are public on business page. It’s important to note that these don’t show up in your news feed, so keep a close eye on them in the lower left-hand side of your page.

5. Play nice

Playing nice sounds simple, but isn’t always followed. A good attitude and pleasant demeanor can turn around almost any situation. If you remain nice, and it’s clear you’re doing everything in your power to answer a question or get a resolution to a problem, most people will respond accordingly.

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