Social media has long been much more than a fun way to connect with friends and distant relatives. For a long time now, it's been functioning as an essential sales and marketing tool, allowing brands to meet and engage with existing and potential customers where they're already present.
So, how can modern brands benefit from social media, particularly social messaging, and use it to provide personalized customer experiences? And what challenges should they consider? In a recent talk with Local Measure's Sheila Walthoe, we explored this constantly evolving CX tool.
Social Messaging in Customer Interactions: The Whys
While brands are increasingly familiarizing themselves with social messaging in their customer interactions, others might still be hesitant. To fully understand its benefits, it's essential that we dissect it into its components: What can be gained using social channels that other channels cannot provide?
- Central and Seamless – To deliver a genuinely great customer experience, brands must remove friction points in the customer journey, which social channels help do. Additionally, it allows brands to meet consumers where they're already researching potential purchases. "Offering end-to-end support through channels where customers already spend time allows brands to locate themselves front and center in the customer’s world," Walthoe explains. If a brand already promotes and sells its products on Instagram, for example, the logical next step would be offering customer service via that channel too. "Social messaging can be used by marketing departments to guide these leads through the sales funnel, and then by customer support to answer questions and deliver customer service.”
- Fast and Intuitive – Social channels are also incredibly intuitive and easy to use, resulting in faster, more convenient customer communication. "Social messaging matches the lifestyle of modern consumers," Walthoe notes. "This effectively means that businesses who don't use it risk losing customers who value speedy, simple interactions."
- The Asynchronous Factor – Asynchronous communication allows customers to reach out at their convenience, and businesses to respond beyond regular hours. It also gives time for agents to provide accurate solutions, resulting in higher customer satisfaction.
- “We all lead busy lives and customers are no different,” Walthoe notes. “Few customers have the time to sit on hold for three hours while waiting for an agent to respond to their query, and asynchronous communication is the perfect solution for that.”
Where to Begin? Tips for Social Messaging Newcomers
Here are some recommended practices if you're looking to incorporate social messaging as a customer service channel:
- Choose the Right Platforms – Not all social media platforms may be relevant for your business. Before you start, it's key to define who is in charge of the business's social media strategy and take stock of the current channels used for marketing and sales. Additionally, the availability of social channels varies depending on regions and countries, with different platforms being common (or less common) in different locations.
"Brands need to remember that there's no ‘one size fits all’ with social channels," Walthoe notes. "This means that using them will often require some regional research and slightly different strategic thinking." "It’s important to select platforms where your customers are most active," she recommends. "For most businesses, starting with major platforms like Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp is a good idea."