Social media is a fantastic way to connect with your readers and grow your audience. With such a large percentage of people online, social media is a must have for any small business. When you’re a small business, there are certain things you should abide by on social media in order to expand your reach and be taken seriously by already existing followers.
Here are six do’s and don’ts for small businesses who are using social media as a customer service tool.
DO:
Know your customers
While the page is all about you and your business, that’s not really what your customers care about. They care about what your business can do for them. Make sure the content you post is something that is relatable and relevant. A good guideline is the Pareto Principle, which means you should post 80% of your content should be aimed at keeping your followers engaged, with only 20% should be promoting your business.
Be active
There is a fine line with social media, you need to be active – but not so active that you appear to be spammy and annoying. Too much content will cause people to stop following you, not enough risks the post going unseen.
Engage with your audience
It’s also important to engage with your audience. Customers will become frustrated if their comment sits idle and unanswered, and it will reflect badly on your company if you can see you never respond. If somebody makes a comment or asks a question, it looks professional to answer this within a short timeframe. When you do respond, remember to always remain calm and professional, and never get angry or snarky, as this will just cause further problems.
DON’T:
Have standard worded responses
When you’re replying to a customer, it’s a good tip to make sure the responses are not a standard worded reply, but are instead personalised and has someone’s name at the end of the message. The customer will then know who they are engaging with, rather than some anonymous staff member at the business. Customers will be more likely to comment with their queries if they can see they won’t just receive a standard answer, and will be responded to personally.
Delete negative comments
This one may be tempting to ignore! After all, you want to attract people to your business, and negative comments aren’t going to help. However, if you delete or edit negative comments businesses in Australia may find themselves misleading customers, which could result in legal problems. Instead of deleting, respond to the comments and see if you can resolve the problem.
Don’t connect with everyone
When you’re trying to grow your followers, then it could seem like a good strategy to follow back everyone that follows you. A good way to think about it is compare it to real life. You’re selective with who you engage with – the same goes for social media, even for a small business. Use social media to strategically network, never follow spam accounts and only follow those who will be beneficial to your business.
Following these six do’s and don’ts, small businesses will be able to greatly improve their use of social media as a customer service tool.
Ben Maden, Company Director, Matter Solutions
