In the past, a brand simply having a presence on social media would’ve been enough, but now we want more. In this rapidly revolving social media world, it’s essential that businesses use them sites to not only attract  new customers, but to connect and communicate with them to create a brand loyal community.

Creating a successful customer service practice to existing social media platforms is the best strategy to build relationships whilst simultaneously producing positive PR for your business.  With the immediacy of social networks and the 24/7 access, businesses must instantly interact with their customers to quickly resolve any issues before they can blow up.

Luckily, social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter are evolving their communication channels to make customer service a whole lot easier. Facebook messaging function has been piloting customer service features, and Twitter has lifted its 140 character limit, following requirements to enforce an easier messaging service between its users.

Here are three little pointers, which could make your online customer service a whole lot better:

1) Be on Time

When people are unhappy or need answers to their questions, it’s important that you provide them with a response as quick as possible as nobody wants to wait 24 hours for a reply to their tweet of Facebook moment if they could make a call in half the time.

Having a member of your marketing team that is responsible for managing the social media accounts is key to responding with immediacy. However, it is also important to remember that not all questions require a response and that speed isn’t everything if you are unable to resolve an issue. In these cases, it may be effective to reply publicly then move over to another channel, such as direct messaging or emailing.

2) Take it offline?

Research suggests that consumers are affected by other customer comments on brand’s social page, which means they will react the same to the responses on your brands page. So when the dreaded time comes where you receive a negative customer voicing their complaints, it is vital that no matter how unpleasant, you get these conversations offline as quickly as possible.

Once the problem has been resolved, decide whether the existing posts need to be removed for the page entirely, or if a public post can be made to conclude and resolve the conversation.

It is important to remind your followers that a real human being sits behind the business social media accounts, this is because people tend to favour talking to another person as opposed to a robotic feeling large corporation. Humanising your social media accounts often reduces the level of negative feedback that users post.

However, whilst it is important that you show off your human side, and interact with your customers in a friendly manner, you must remember your professional relationship with the customers and that you’re representing a brands specific personality.

So there you go, by keeping these in mind, you will be well on your way to offering great customer service on your platforms, and remember, the customer is always right!