Does being on and engaged in a social media platform mean a company has great customer service? The answer is a bit complicated, but easier to understand when we pull it apart.

Social media can provide a number of solutions to so many problems. It provides better customer service through engaging customers and followers and provides more personalized responses from an online environment.

Peter Shankman, three-time author and entrepreneur, did some research into customer service and found that 80 percent of businesses believe they offer “superior” customer service. When it came down to it, only eight percent of consumers have received the superior customer service from those companies.

Amazing and outstanding customer service is crucial to a successful business, but is social media the best way to provide it?

There are many positives to social media and here are just a few of them. It creates a better relationship with customers since there is a direct line of communication. Engaging on a public forum can allow current and potential customers to see that the business wants to solve problems. Social media can provide a creative outlet. There are fewer rules in social media than any other medium of customer communication which allows businesses to do what they want in order to provide a more unique and better customer service experience for their consumers. Through all social media platforms, questions can get answered quickly and efficiently and there is no need to worry about time zones.

If you weren’t convinced that it is necessary, check out some of these numbers:

–          24 percent of upset consumers used social media as an outlet to communicate about their experience.

–          80 percent of consumers heard back within 12 hours after contacting a brand through a social media platform.

–          59 percent of businesses take more than a day to respond. 10 percent of businesses answer within an hour on social media.

On the flip side, that old-school-in-person-customer-service approach can be great too. It’s stated that 46 percent of customers would rather talk with a real person when it comes to extremely difficult questions. When online transactions raise concerns and they aren’t addressed quickly, 45 percent will abandon the transaction altogether. Friendly employees and great customer service makes 73 percent of customers fall in love with the brand.

Online customer service is necessary these days, yes. However, don’t give up on that face-to-face customer service. Unless the entire society gives up on the importance of inter-human interaction, we will always need that human-to-human, face-to-face interaction.

Contact Susan J. Campbell today to learn how we can help you provide excellent customer service using social media platforms.