While some businesses are still struggling to understand how their marketing is affected by social media, the savvier business owner is taking social media integration in to their business to the next level. The smart business owner is using social media to actively engage and improve their customer service through their social media channels.

Whether you know it or not, your customers, prospects and contacts will be discussing your business, your products and your service via social media channels. You need to be using strategies to actively listen to and engage with your audience. You need to prioritize comments (and therefore customers) using social media and you need to be seen as being transparent. Most importantly, social media gives you the power to wow your customer (and their friends).

Listen to Your Audience

Social media has given businesses all of the tools they need to find out exactly what their customers are saying about them. Customers will not hesitate to sing your praises or point out your flaws on their preferred social media channel.

Not everyone will post their thoughts directly to your social profiles, so you’ll need to find tools and techniques that allow you to monitor comments that are not made directly to you. By properly ‘listening’, you can then actively engage with your online audience.

Engage with Your Audience

It’s all good ‘listening’ to your customers’ online, but then next step is to then engage.

If someone compliments your business then acknowledge them, thank them for their praise and be sure to offer an incentive to do business with you again.

If, on the other hand, you have found a criticism of your business, then it is vital that you are publicly seen as dealing with the issue rose. By professional and diplomatic, and divert the details of the incident to a behind the scenes conversation; after all, you don’t want to be seen as hanging out your laundry for all to see! Acknowledge the problem, show that you are responding to it, and then contact the complainant privately. 

Prioritize the Top Positive People in Your Social Networks

As your business grows, you may find it hard to communicate with absolutely everyone who engages with your social profiles, so you need to learn how to prioritize your social media activities. Of course, dealing with negative comments should be at the top of your list, but immediately after that priority should be the top positive people in your social networks. These people share your content and sing your praises. They actively contribute to your increasing online audience. Reward these people and engage with them regularly to keep the momentum going.

Transparency and Truth = Increased Brand Appeal and Awareness

All too often brands use corporate speak and clinical terms to communicate via social media. Social media is supposed to be sociable, so use these profiles to say things you perhaps wouldn’t say on your website, or in your printed marketing. Be transparent and truthful and you will naturally increase your brand appeal and business awareness. Be bold, be brave and be apologetic if your content offends someone. Use a variety of content, including copy, images, video and apps to amuse, entertain and enlighten your audience.

Wow Your Online Audience

Social media gives each individual company the opportunity to wow their online audience. Be different, be daring and be inspiring. Businesses from all sectors can use their social media profiles to give the wow factor.

Encourage personal engagement and find your own voice and you’ll soon find out how many doors your social media activities can open for your business.

Author Bio: Michael Clark wrote this awesome article. He knows how to get the best customer service through social thus he described some of them here in this article. www.optimove.com is the site for which he has written this article.