Handling Social Media Complaints: Tips and Tricks

Social media is one of the most important digital marketing instruments to use today. It is an instrument that allows businesses to interact with their customers directly and in a more personal way. High social media engagement tends to lead to higher customer loyalty and better brand value.

The direct nature of social media interactions makes the medium perfect for offering customer support. In fact, customers tend to turn to social media when they have complaints to launch against your products and services. With these tips and tricks that we are about to discuss in this article, social media complaints are easy to handle.

Always Reply Quickly

Nothing is more annoying than having to wait for days just to get a response. Offering quick replies to customer complaints on social media is the first step you need to take to deliver.

To make sure your social media officers always reply correctly, set up a set of policies for handling complaints on social media. Do you want the customers to offer more details via private messages or DMs? What if the complaint is slightly uncommon?

As you deal with more social media complaints, these policies can be fine-tuned accordingly. The more refined your social media policies are, the sooner you can respond to posts from customers about your products and services.

Be Consistent

Another thing that the customers will find annoying is inconsistency. Offering different answers at different times is simply unacceptable and must be avoided whenever possible. Keeping the conversation traceable is how you tackle this issue.
Instead of relying on FAQs or canned responses all the time, make sure social media officers understand the conversation – the context of the complaint – before replying. If a customer gave an order number in a previous DM, for example, never ask for it again while handling the same complaint.

Consistency also matters when it comes to the solution you give to customers, especially solutions that are delivered publicly. Allowing a return in one case and denying it in another similar one will spark more questions that aren’t always easy to answer.

Go Local

There is a lot to gain from having social media admins that really understand local customs and the habits of the customers. The use of certain phrases or the native language of the customer you’re dealing with elevates customer experience.

This is exactly why big brands now work with local agencies in order to deliver a more personalized customer experience in different regions. If you sell to customers in Thailand, you want the best social media service Thailand has to offer to deliver that personalized experience.

Be Sincere

Last but certainly not least, always remember that you are catering to your customers; human customers. There are people behind the social media accounts you interact with. As a business, you need to show sincerity and focus on keeping the customers happy.

The little things you do matter. Admit mistakes when you make them and keep interacting with customers once their complaints are resolved. This is how you achieve success on multiple social media platforms.