In the previous 3 posts, we’ve discussed the steps you should take before you begin responding to consumers via social media. First, you need to monitor to find out where your consumers are. Secondly, decide what comments you’re going to be responding to. Then, decide who is going to be responding. This post is about the final step, responding.
We’ve already talked about what comments you’re going to respond to, what paragraphs you’re going to use, and who should be responding. The only thing left is to decide what accounts you are going to use to send responses. You can respond as the brand via the existing accounts. Some companies choose to create an account for ‘Company Consumer Affairs’ that they use to respond with so that consumers know they’re talking with customer service. Still others create individual accounts for the people who will be responding so that consumers are interacting with a single person.
While you’re just getting your feet wet, you might want to use a company account. With most of the companies I’ve worked with regarding social media, the management team handles everything at first before trickling the monitoring and responding down to their reps. Since you’re not sure at first who will be handling your responses, become an admin of your company accounts or create a “Company Consumer Affairs” account to respond from. This enables you to respond without the constant changing of personalities that consumers are used to interacting with.
The other option for responding is creating individual accounts for your social media agents. I have found in my experience that you need to keep your communications at a personal level. When consumers call your company, they talk to a person with a name – they make a personal connection. It should be the same when you’re conversing with consumers via social media. It’s not your brand that’s taking care of them; it’s the person behind the account that is making things happen. Having individual accounts allow your brand to have personality and for consumers to connect with people. After all, social media is all about building relationships.
I would like to offer a few tips for using individual accounts to respond on social media networks. First, your users should create professional accounts separate from their personal Facebook and Twitter accounts. You want to protect their privacy and make sure that they are interacting with consumers as professionals from your company. You’ll also want to consider who owns an individual company account if the employee leaves. Does the company control the account, especially if the company name is part of the account name, or does the employee get to retain control after leaving? This is also important because if you delete the account, the username can become available again and someone else can use it to misrepresent your company.
These are the steps I followed as we worked through handling social media comments at Bob Evans Farms. While the exact tactics that worked for me may not work for everyone, these steps are a good guideline to follow to set you up for social media success.
Next post: How to handle negative comments shared via social media.
Share your success stories! How is your company handling social media comments from your consumers?
Tags: Consumer Affairs, Consumer Relations, Customer Care, Customer Service, Social Media
