What Is Social Customer Care and Why Is It So Important?

Learn about the importance of customer service on social media with Julio Fernández-Sanguino

In a world where we relate with one another digitally daily, we have often needed to recur to customer service online. We are no longer restricted to having to call someone, and now have a wide range of channels, from artificial intelligence chatbots to messaging services designed to attend to clients worldwide in real-time.

One of the channels to have revolutionized customer care is social media. When a brand has a sound communication system and a well-executed social media customer care plan, it can guarantee immediate attention and accessibility. Julio Fernández-Sanguino, who has worked in digital businesses since 2011, explains what social customer care means, its function and advantages, and why it is important to look after your digital customers.

What is social media customer care?

It is customer service on social media. It refers to providing support, service, and help to customers on any social platform. With an emphasis on service, it is about stretching customer relations online and on social media. Your clients need to contact your business or brand to address doubts, look for advice, and share enjoyable experiences, not merely to forward their complaints.

Therefore, it is important to establish an appropriate framework for dialogue with the customer, in which the relationship between brand and client is increasingly robust.

Why is it important to create this framework?

Customer experience plays an essential role in the success of any business. How the experience develops has an impact on brand loyalty, sales, customer loss, customer protection, and customer retention rates.

Social customer care is paramount: 67% of users have contacted brands at least once digitally through social media.

Customer service on social media is not directed exclusively to the customer being dealt with, but also to any person who views this public interaction. By answering all direct questions, you send an impactful message to all the other users viewing or actively participating in the discussion. You could say that social media care is a springboard to increase sales and create loyalty toward the brand.

How does social customer care differ from other types of customer service?

The main difference is its immediacy. Social media is the connection between two people and the information shared at a specific point in time. It can be associated more with a call center than with other traditional customer service systems.

Another difference is that social media is a familiar place for the user. Brands with a presence on social media need to know that it is the users and not the brands, who make the rules in this game, so they need to accept their usage, habits, language, and way of communicating. To this end, the person managing the brand‘s account needs to be transparent and on hand.

The most critical aspect is that on social media, customer service is public, and all of the brand’s activity is visible to other users. Every conversation with a customer in an open environment is an excellent opportunity for the brand: a well-resolved issue reflects a company committed to their clients’ satisfaction.

What opportunities does social customer care offer?

The most significant opportunity is for a brand to bond with the customer and win their lifelong loyalty because offering a suitable solution means captivating a customer.

On a commercial level, each interaction with a customer is an opportunity to get to know them and their needs, offer services and products, and even improve as a company. It establishes a relationship that can bring success.

Julio Fernández-Sanguino’s course ‘Customer Service Strategies in Social Media’ will teach you to manage your company's social media accounts and keep excellent customer relations while finding ways to become a love brand.

You may also like:

- Introduction to Social Media for Creative Entrepreneurs, a course by Pamela Barrón Cobo.
- Brand Strategy on Instagram, a course by Julieta Tello.
- Communication Strategy for Social Media, a course by Núria Mañé.