Do You Own Your Customer Relationships?

At the end of the day, a brand should own and manage its relationships with customers. It's not the kind of job a third party, even an agency, should handle for the long-term at least. The ultimate benefit of social media is observed when its built into the way a company does business, and having a third party between the brand and its customers makes putting that into practice difficult, if not impossible.

The best example of this is with community management. Many brands outsource all of this, not just for the short-term but indefinitely, which ultimately means the brand is missing the point of social media. It allows a brand to get closer to its consumers, and the less involved a brand is, the further away consumers are.

Agencies Can Help

Don't get me wrong. Agencies can and do help in managing relationships, especially at the beginning of a social media program when time and personnel are in short supply. An agency can play that role in facilitating customer relationships, putting processes in place, training internal staff and making sure all the pieces are in place before the end handoff to the brand. Having an agency manage customer relationships at the beginning allows for action to be taken while the kinks are worked out and processes are implemented.

Agencies can help, but over the long-term it's an unsustainable model. No matter how great the agency is, it can never know the ins and outs of a business and be able to manage customer relationships quite like the people behind the brand. So use agencies to fill in gaps, but don't let them become a crutch.

Plan for the Transition

A transition plan and timeline should be in place for any social media program that includes a third party maintaining relationships with customers. Understand who can take over internally, what will be required of them, how they'll do their job and what tools they'll need. An agency should be able to provide all of that information or at least a recommendation as well as the necessary training to execute it. The transition is part of a brand's evolution from doing social to becoming social.

Understand the Long-Term Vision for Roles

It comes down to evolving to have every player where its strongest and most valuable. The people behind a brand know their consumers and should be the ones developing the relationships with them. It gives them direct access to their customers and gives consumers the ability to connect with the brand easier than it would have been with a third party between them.

On the other side of the coin, it puts agencies where they can be most valuable, being strategic experts and providing guidance on where a brand should go and what it should do to see further success through social media. Let agencies bring the expertise on strategy and marketing tools and brands be the experts on their customers. The balance is a potent combination.

Every Response Is an Oppotunity

I’ve had the opportunity to speak and work with a variety of community managers, and the best community managers, whether it’s managing a community on Facebook, a forum, Twitter or other platform, view every single consumer response and post as an opportunity. Customer content is nothing that should be ignored or removed or even taken for granted. The best community managers embrace it with open arms and aim to make the piece of content into something more.

Customers Want to Be Heard

A report from eMarketer found that 49.5% of consumers stated they’d be less likely to buy anything from a company that did not answer questions/complaints through their social media channels. 38.8% said they’d be somewhat less likely to buy, and only 11.7% stated that they wouldn’t care. To bring the point home even more, 83.8% of consumers find it at least somewhat important that company’s answer questions or complaints promptly.

There’s no way a brand can respond to every single response in the social space, but it’s certainly a worthwhile goal. It’s not all on the brand either. We have a lot of tools at our disposal, including bringing brand advocates in on the conversation, to help address questions. Consumers care. They want to be heard.

A brand’s social channels aren’t broadcast tools. They’re avenues to engage and respond to customers. More importantly, engaging and responding to customers helps protect a brand’s online reputation, which in the short and long-term can influence consumer purchase decisions.

Every Post Is an Opportunity

No matter what a customer says, it should be looked at as a potential opportunity, not only to retain the customer but also to maintain a positive online brand reputation. Brands can’t take consumer sharing for granted, and community managers should focus on providing help for customers.

Brands can offer real assistance through social channels. This doesn’t mean viewing community management as an automated machine. Provide custom solutions, and try to avoid pushing a customer somewhere else for more information. Chances are they’ve already gone down a few routes for support. Social media is often a last try to find a solution. Provide it as much as possible, and try to make it public. You may be saving yourself some time in the future by addressing the problems of more than just one person.

Don’t let problems or opportunities sit there. If someone posts something positive, say thank you and share it. If someone says something negative, be quick to respond. You may not have a solution right away. Just let them know they’ve been heard, and you’re working to help them. That can go a long ways. Mobile apps for Twitter and Facebook Pages make this easier than ever. Brands can offer personalized replies and customized solutions from just about anywhere.

You Have to Listen

All of the above is null and void if a brand isn’t listening. Brands should be tracking sentiment and mentions on an ongoing basis. Being on top of what’s being said and providing responses is the best way to maintain a positive online reputation and retain customers in the social space. Don’t let things linger. Seize opportunities when they come up.

The Scalability of Being Responsive

The idea of using social media channels to address customer service issues is a no-brainer. It certainly benefits the brand, and consumers expect it. When they see a brand with a Facebook Page, Twitter account or other social presence, they expect to have their questions, comments and concerns directed to the brand responded to.

This is a best practice. Neglecting to respond to consumers is no different than ignoring a customer who walks up to the counter and directly asks a question. Creating a social presence establishes an unspoken contract that you are there to support customers.

It’s fairly straightforward to live by this principle when a community is just getting started and a following is being created. However, what happens when the community really starts to grow? The Facebook Page Likers grow exponentially, Twitter followers shoots up and so on.

When a Best Practice Become Overwhelming

It’s easy to get overwhelmed by customer inquiries directed within a brand community. Perhaps, a recall takes place or your product or service naturally generates customer service-related questions.

Brands can get inundated with requests from consumers, and addressing every request can become impossible very quickly.

Preparing for Success

Success comes at a cost. The bigger your brand presence, the more attention the community will likely require, but this isn’t an excuse to ignore consumers. No matter the size, brands still owe consumers solutions to their problems, which means setting the brand up for success.

Customer Service Buy-in Early: Customer service should be brought in at the very beginning of social media strategy development. Establish a process with them and cross-train. They can teach the principles of customer service, while those executing social media can teach the principles of social media marketing. Ultimately, this builds a strong social customer service team from the very beginning, making scalability more efficient.

Response protocol: Align on the context of when to respond and not to respond. How long will you wait? What questions can be answered online? What needs to be handled offline? Understand when, what and how you will respond before issues arise.

Don’t do it alone: A brand’s community is likely where its most passionate advocates aggregate, which means it isn’t always necessary for the brand to respond. Advocates may field each other’s questions on their own. Invite the community to answer questions and contribute thoughts and ideas early on to set the precedent.

Aggregate responses when possible: If certain questions are asked over and over again, address them on an FAQ, create a YouTube video or write about it on the company blog. In other words, kill two (or more) birds with one stone. Answer the question once and direct the community to the answer.

Any other thoughts on how to avoid being overwhelmed?