Thanks to the internet and social media, the customer experience has evolved tremendously, giving consumers a very public voice in which to share their experiences. And if you’re a small business with a social media presence you better be ready!

In this episode of The Social Angle podcast, Social Media Specialist Patrick Kennedy and I discuss customer service in the age of social media, helpful tools and advice for your business, and how to navigate this new frontier of the customer experience. Listen to the podcast below:

'Social Media Customer Service' Defined
During this podcast, I thought it was important for us to define our topic and how it applied to businesses that use social media. Patrick gave a great, one-sentence definition. Here it is:

Social Media Customer Service: The transition from being present on social media, to being active and responsive. (Listen @ 1:05)

But why do businesses need to be active and responsive? Again, Patrick had the perfect response:

“Every single customer has a megaphone with social media.”

Indeed they do, and if they're not happy with your product or service they will take their megaphone to social media and blast your business, so it's important that you get in there and try to resolve the issue. Not only will it show the upset customer you care, but because others are watching it shows them, too. And the importance of the latter cannot be downplayed, as Kevin O'Leary from Shark Tank explains. (Listen @ 9:36) 

Monitoring Your Social Media Accounts
So how do you do this as easily and effectively as possible? As we discuss in the podcast, it's not difficult. In fact, it's as simple as downloading apps for all the social media you use for your business right to your smartphone (Listen @ 5:06). All the apps are free and you'll be able to monitor any activity around your social media accounts simply by setting up notifications. So, how do you set up notifications? This video below is a quick tutorial on how you can set them up right from your Facebook business page: 

NOTE! Most social media are similar and notifications can be set up directly through the "Settings" of the platform.

Monitoring Your Brand Throughout Social Media
Sometimes conversations about your business take place outside of your social media pages. So what do you do? If you have a social media budget there are tools you can purchase, like Agorapulse and Sprout Social, that can bring those conversations right to you. These tools are all scalable based on your budget and can help you monitor your brand on just about every platform. (Listen @ 6:56) 

Golden Rules of Social Media Customer Service
According to Patrick, there are two very important rules when it comes to social media customer service, and they are (Listen @ 8:21):

1. Always respond with empathy and try to understand who you are talking to on the other side of the screen; do whatever you can to fix their problem

2. You are not only talking to one person; others are watching

That last point, as I mentioned earlier, is so important because what brands say in social media -- especially when trying to resolve conflict -- really matters. One misstep and you could be dealing with a public relations nightmare (like this one, from Amy's Baking Company), and nobody wants that! As the very quotable Patrick says: 

"Social media customer service is a spectator sport ... make sure you represent your brand in the best way possible." --@PKennedy_ASI https://t.co/WVMr9aNpUi #Podcast

— ASICentral (@asicentral) February 21, 2019

Words to live by for customer service in the social media age!