It Pays To Care About Your Customers On Social⁠—Literally

Words by Louise Stanway

Love it or hate it, social media now plays an essential role in customer care.

Before we get into the “why”, let’s begin by clarifying something: customer care and customer service are not the same thing. These terms are often used interchangeably but, in reality, they are very different–and it’s important to recognize this difference.

Customer service is generally a passive, but responsive, field. For example, a customer may come to you with a basic question and you provide them with a basic answer and the communication ends there. Done.

Customer care, on the other hand, is about meeting and exceeding your customers’ needs proactively, rather than reactively. It is an important step toward building brand loyalty, customer retention, and advocacy. The “care” component plays a large part in shaping your overall customer experience (the entire customer journey) and, most importantly, creates returning customers and can be a springboard for increased sales.

So, where does social media come into play? What’s the value?

The past two years have driven us to fully embrace operating in the digital space. Now, with businesses starting to reopen their doors and physical get-togethers becoming normalized once more, it seems customers are struggling to reacclimatize themselves to traditional methods.

A recent study found that 57% of customers said they prefer to engage with brands through digital channels*. Plus, the number of people who prefer social media messaging over any other type of customer service increased by 110% year over year†.

Knowing that your customers are turning to social to interact with your brand–ask yourself this: does your business have a social customer care strategy? If the answer is no, now is the time to take action. Here, we’ll outline some fundamental elements of social customer care to get you started.

1.
Make your followers feel seen and heard
47% of US consumers have a more favourable view of brands that respond to customers on social media※. This means it’s important to publicly respond to all your customer’s questions and comments. It let’s your customers (and other viewers) know that you’re engaged and actively listening to them. It also shows your brand’s “human side” and helps build stronger relationships.

2.
Exceed needs and expectations
Businesses that go above and beyond to exceed the emotional needs of their customers will often get recognition and shoutouts through UGC. This might happen in the form of a tweet, a Reel or a TikTok from your customer and can be a great tactic for building organic awareness.

When is the last time you went above and beyond to make a customer happy? Keep track of these case studies and any positive feedback you receive, you can repurpose this as content on your own social channels as a real example of your devotion to your customers. Plus, followers love seeing themselves and their content reposted.

3.
Listen to customer sentiment on social and uncover pain points
If you work in tourism, you’re likely already reading your Google and TripAdvisor reviews, but are you reading all your social comments? Hearing what your customers have to say about your product or service–unprompted–is a deeply vauable tool that can help you change and improve your service.

* Salesforce 5th Edition State of Service Report
† Zen Desk study 2021
※ Statica 2022