The Culture of Customer Service
Implementing a social media strategy in your customer service model will give you a chance to communicate with consumers at a level that ensures they feel part of your story, and encourages them to recommend your brand to others.
One of the main changes that must be made in order to implement an effective customer service strategy is a change in your “corporate” way of thinking. Customer service should not be limited to immediate patching of holes and solving new problems – but should consist of reaching out, anticipating the needs of customers before they’re even aware they have a need.
Below are a few elements that will help you integrate your company with the social media customer service standard:
Activate internal communication channels – The more complex the structure of your company, the harder it is for employees to understand how their roles and tasks affect the whole company and the customer. Increasing openness in communication between people employed in your company will help them better appreciate their place in the organization and better understand the problems they’re supposed to solve.
Therefore, it’s worthwhile to keep employees constantly informed about what also applies to other activities than those that fall within the scope of their duties. This can be done in the form of meetings and/or short and concise internal newsletters.
Build employee value and trust – Conducting business and customer-oriented communication requires the company to trust its employees.
If you believe that an employee is able to represent the brand and to provide a consumer-oriented, competent service. Then as management, you should show this trust by enabling employees to speak on behalf of the company and introduce some freedom in building relationships with customers.
Share feedback – One of the key methods to understand customer needs and where they’re coming from is to share consumer feedback with relevant departments in your company. It’s best practice to create complementary statements, complaints or brand suggestions and share them with the people working in the company. What’s more, it’s also worth providing a gateway for employees and departments who might have an idea for solving a given problem. In this way, all employees have a chance to get to know the customer and their needs better.