Social media customer service: An in-depth guide

Nearly 5 billion people use social media worldwide, according to a report by DemandSage. For an organization, this spells an opportunity for prime engagement, especially since, in a recent Khoros study, around half of consumers who interact with brands on social media ask for customer service.

We get it: With billions of people on the internet, just the thought of keeping up with messages, reviews, and inquiries can seem daunting — but doing so is essential to the success of your business.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through what it takes to deliver customer service that exceeds what existing and potential customers expect, from leveraging automated technology and training your agents to diffusing escalated situations and practicing social listening.

Social media isn’t just a playground for socializing—it’s where your customers live, work, and play. So when they voice their questions or concerns about your brand’s products or services on these platforms, and you leave them unaddressed, it can lead to unhappy customers. Instead, consider these best practices to ensure you keep your customers satisfied and your brand reputation strong.

The easiest way for customers to contact your support team is to dedicate social media profiles exclusively for customer service and support. Not only does it help organize inquiries and issues so that they’re easy to locate and address, it allows your company to provide a more personalized experience that may be harder to deliver through your main channels.

Instead of having your customers run in circles to connect to the right person, provide a direct line where they can reach help quickly and effectively, just like Microsoft does in the example below:

Consistency is key in social media customer service. Make sure all of your support agents are well-trained and aligned in terms of expected response times, brand tone of voice, when to move to direct messages (DMs), and company policies. Then make sure you equip them with the resources they need to get the job done.

These resources can include response templates to streamline the resolution of common questions, frequently asked questions (FAQs), and knowledge bases to ensure that they relay accurate and consistent information. And when there are changes in policies or messaging strategies, be sure to update your team so everyone stays on the same page.

To customers, there’s no excuse why a response should take more than a few minutes. Rule of thumb–Don’t give your customers time to look elsewhere for answers to their questions or an alternative brand to explore.

Prioritize speed when addressing customer inquiries on social media, even during peak hours.

Use templates, AI-driven responses, or chatbots to handle more simple cases efficiently while you tackle more complex, nuanced cases.

Social media is a place for personal interactions, meaning you need to humanize your conversations. If your brand is renowned for its friendly and approachable image, make sure that your customer service interactions exude warmth and approachability.

Customers will remember you not only for what you say but how you say it. If they feel comfortable engaging with your brand, they will be more likely to come back over and over again to your business. On the contrary, responding in a dry, robotic, or rude way will leave customers with a sour experience they will remember, hurting your business in the long term.

There may be instances when a public conversation becomes too sensitive or confrontational — this is when you should offer to take the conversation offline or in private through a direct message (DM). If the interaction continues to escalate, be sure to remain calm, cool, and collected. Responding unprofessionally is not worth trying to prove a point that could land your entire business in hot water.

If a customer becomes particularly difficult to handle, offer to move the case to a manager or higher-level personnel to resolve the issue as civilly as possible. Moving conversations to DMs is also recommended when a user needs to send personal information such as their email address and payment information.

A defined workflow makes all the difference when handling complex or challenging cases. Ideally, it’s best to establish a clear workflow for different types of issues and escalations to ensure that no query falls through the cracks.

Internally, this eliminates confusion and miscommunication, minimizes response times, and creates a sense of accountability within your team so that each case is handled with precision and care. With a defined workflow, chaos turns to controlled coordination.

High customer traffic is always good–unless you don’t know how to manage it. Prepare for unexpected surges in customer inquiries, especially during product launches or promotional events.

Have a plan in place to allocate resources and manage the increased demand effectively, and keep a general preparedness document handy that your team can reference so that they can be ready to tackle any unprecedented influx of customer service queries.

The best feedback is customer feedback. Regularly analyze your interactions to identify common themes and recurring issues. Use this data to improve your products, services, or support processes and proactively address emerging problems before they escalate and cause more issues down the road.

Don't limit your customer service efforts to your own channels. Practice social monitoring and listening–that is, monitor potentially relevant conversations outside your official support channels. Sometimes, this means searching for comments that mention your brand without tagging you.

Identifying potential pain points and addressing them before the customer reaches out to you demonstrates your brand’s dedication to customer satisfaction.

While simple in theory, this proactivity can help you stand out from competitors. Speaking of competitors, brands utilizing social listening to its full potential will see how consumers engage with competitors, which may yield insights that can be used to convert them into your own customers.

Centralizing your social media customer service efforts in one platform or dashboard can streamline your operations — and make your team and customers happier.

Using social media management software like Khoros’s solution can help you monitor and respond to inquiries from various social media channels in one place to improve response times and maintain consistency. At the same time, customers can still reach you through their social media channel of choice, providing optimal convenience for all parties involved.

Examples of successful social media customer service

Sometimes, the best way to learn how to boost your customer service is to see how others are successfully interacting with their customers. Here are a few examples of note.

1. Airbnb’s proactive approach

Airbnb regularly scans the comment section of their social channels for any inquiries that customers may drop in, such as the example below. While this user commented on an Instagram post in French, Airbnb still took the initiative to translate their message and privately address their concern:

If they weren’t actively listening to conversations related to their platform, this issue would have remained unresolved. Airbnb’s approach not only resolves issues on the spot, but creates a positive impression of their brand—even when customers are having a negative experience with your product or service.

2. Wendy’s open-minded interactions

Wendy’s social media accounts are known for the witty banter they share with competing fast-food restaurants, but the brand also knows how to appeal to its audience:

Here, they encourage followers to like a tweet in exchange for bringing back their wildly popular spicy chicken nuggets. It’s a creative way to respond to customer feedback about menu items and analyze potential demand before investing time and resources into launching a new or seasonal product.

3. Microsoft’s extensive resource hub

While Microsoft is not shy about posting meme-worthy content on their social media channels, they’re still devoted to ensuring that their customers have a smooth experience with their products:

In this Facebook thread, they respond to a customer disputing a wrongful charge. Not only did Microsoft acknowledge the nature of the issue, they did so with empathy, attaching a resource guide to help the customer navigate through their inquiry.

They also personalized the message by referring to the customer by their name and reiterating what the problem was to show that they understood the situation at hand. While seemingly subtle, these actions make your customers feel heard and cared for.

How do you manage social media customer service?

From a simple startup to a complex corporation, you need the right tools and technology to effectively manage customer service inquiries through all your social media channels.

Social media management platforms specifically offer several advantages for your business in terms of optimizing your customer service workflow, including:

• Centralized management: By bringing all social media interactions into one dashboard, customer service teams can monitor and respond to inquiries from various platforms (e.g., Facebook, X, Instagram) in a timely manner.

• Real-time monitoring: This enables businesses to view and respond to questions and comments as they are published in real-time.

• Workflow automation: Platforms that offer workflow automation features can help route inquiries to the right agents or teams, assign tasks, and set priorities based on predefined rules and criteria.

• Response templates: These can be customized for common inquiries, enabling agents to respond quickly and consistently without the need to write each message from scratch.

• Analytics and reporting: Analytics and reporting tools that track key metrics such as response times, customer satisfaction, and trending topics, help businesses make informed decisions and refine their customer service strategies.

• Integration with CRM: Integration with customer relationship management (CRM) systems ensures that customer information is readily available to agents, enabling more personalized interactions and easier record-keeping.

• Chatbots and AI: Some platforms incorporate chatbots and artificial intelligence to handle routine inquiries, freeing up human agents to focus on more complex issues.

There’s nothing wrong with a little technological help, especially if it optimizes your customer service workstream and gets you more loyal customers in the long run.

Khoros: A social media customer service platform you can rely on

Khoros isn't just a social media customer service platform; it's your dependable ally in the world of online customer engagement. With Khoros by your side, you can take your social media customer service to new heights.

Khoros empowers companies to efficiently handle inquiries, maintain consistency, and gain deeper insights into their social media interactions. If you’re looking for more robust support for modern customer service demands, request a demo today to see how our solutions can support your brand in achieving its goals.