Social Media

Social Hour: Are you Ignoring your Audience?

by Margaret McNamara Posted On September 7th, 2017 | 3:00am EST

Social media is a powerful source of information. It is where many consumers get their news, where they hear about their friends’ major life events, discover their new favorite songs and find their new favorite products and brands. With that in mind, your company’s social platforms are one of your main stages to express your business’s personality and develop a meaningful relationship with your costumers. One of the main benefits of social media is consumer engagement, which means your social platforms are valuable customer service opportunities that you may be under utilizing.

The Two Way Street

If you’re not engaging with your followers, then you might just be making noise. Social media is an excellent marketing tool to advertise your product, but don’t forget that it is a conversation and a two-way street. Responding to comments, complaints, reviews and messages shows your customers that you’re listening and you care about them.

Consistent and Prompt Responses

According to Digiday, one study reports that the retail industry leads with the highest social media response rate of 19 percent, but that still means 81 percent of inquiries are being ignored. The study also reports that the average response time is 10.6 hours. Generally, consumers expect a response within an hour, however, only a few companies are meeting this expectation.

Be Real, not Robotic

Responding to every message your company receives on social media may not be a feasible task, especially depending on the size of your audience. Many companies use chatbots to respond to consumer inquiries. While this is a useful tool that can make sifting through messages easier there is a right and a wrong way to do it. You need to let costumers know when they are talking to a chatbot and when they are talking to a human being. Additionally, it’s important that you decipher which inquiries a chatbot can answer and which inquiries a person should answer. It’s always best to be upfront and real or else you run the risk of frustrating your audience and hurting your brand.

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