Social media platforms help businesses to address customer queries, establish real-time engagement, and build stronger relationships. This is quickly becoming the norm, as approximately 63% of customers now anticipate companies to offer customer support through social media.
These platforms not only provide an immediate response mechanism but also allow brands to show their commitment to customer satisfaction in a public domain allowing businesses to rise above their competition and turn customer service into a powerful differentiator.
In this article, let’s look at five examples where brands have leveraged social media to deliver excellent customer service.
Brand #1: Nike
Nike has long been known for its effective advertising strategies, but its approach to social media customer service truly helps it stand out as a customer-centric brand.
Nike maintains a dedicated Twitter account solely for customer support which helps them to keep their marketing messages separate from their support interactions. It also brings forth a major benefit to their customers — it’s clear where they should go when they need help.
In the above example where a customer reached out about their tennis shoes that had easily ripped within a year of purchase, Nike’s support team was quick to respond, offering to look into options and displaying a friendly, empathetic, and personalized approach to the customer’s issue.
Here’s how Nike’s customer service approach solves challenging tasks for businesses:
Separate support from your main marketing account by making use of a cloud contact center, if possible, for maintaining clear communication lines and offering a less cluttered customer service experience.
Be quick in your replies because you value your customers and their time. Additionally, responding quickly to queries or complaints can prevent potential escalations or bad social reviews.
Make your replies empathetic, actionable, and personalized by addressing the customer’s concerns with actionable solutions and adding a human touch to make the customer feel heard and valued.
Brand #2: Spotify
Spotify, a globally recognized music streaming platform, grew from 422 million users in Q1 2022 to 515 million users in Q1 2023, marking a notable year-on-year growth of about 22%.
Much like Nike, Spotify also maintains a separate Twitter handle for customer support. Their bio provides a direct link to their community page for general issues and advises customers to drop a direct message for payment-related queries.
Here, a user wanted to learn how Spotify’s ‘Smart Shuffle’ feature works. The support team promptly explained that the songs listed are recommendations, hence not downloaded, but can be added to playlists for offline listening — which was informative and also offered a tangible solution to the customer’s query.
Businesses can take away the following to grow on social media with prompt customer service:
Provide assurance that their issue will be resolved. Spotify does this well by stating “Hope this answer resolves your concern”.
Share more info about their queries to help your customers or users understand the reasoning behind the solution you provided. Customers appreciate it when businesses go the extra mile to explain the context or background of a situation.
Ask a follow-up after giving an answer to ensure that the customer is satisfied with the solution and to keep the door open for further inquiries. To ensure complete customer satisfaction, send a check in email to inquire about the resolution and offer additional help if required.
This gesture shows your commitment to a successful resolution of the issue and reinforces the importance of well-crafted customer service emails in maintaining ongoing communication and trust.
Brand #3: Wendy’s
Wendy’s, the international fast-food restaurant chain, apart from their food, is known for its active engagement with followers on Twitter — mixing humor with timely responses, thus creating a unique social media persona.
Wendy’s is direct and efficient in promptly addressing complaints and has processes in place to manage and resolve them.
For instance, in the above example where a customer complained about receiving raw chicken, Wendy’s was quick to acknowledge the issue and asked for the specific location details to further assist the customer.
Here are two important customer service tips that can be gleaned from Wendy’s approach:
Acknowledge the problem by thanking the customer for making you aware of the issue. It’s important to not shy away from complaints or issues that a customer brings forward but rather take ownership and action.
Keep evolving your workflows to prevent such issues or at least reduce their chances of occurring. As per the above example, Wendy’s promptly asks for the location details implies that they have a mechanism to address such issues at the restaurant level.
Brand #4: Starbucks
Starbucks, a global leader in the coffee industry, has made its mark not only with its distinctive product packaging but also with its thoughtful customer service responses. The brand manages thousands of stores worldwide, yet the ability to offer personalized service at each of them is commendable.
Starbucks is always mindful of the unique aspects of their retail business which helped them adopt an investigative approach to answer customer queries by asking targeted questions.
For instance, when a customer shares a negative experience, Starbucks doesn’t just apologize; they delve deeper by requesting the exact store location and time of the incident — as shown below:
Here are three key tips brands can learn from Starbucks’ approach:
Keep the uniqueness of your industry in mind to develop an efficient and effective process that solves your customers’ problems. For instance, Starbucks inquired the customer in the above example about the time of their visit to isolate the issue.
Let your customers know they are talking to a human to give them a sense of comfort. You can simply do what Starbucks does on Twitter — signing off with the name of the customer service rep.
Thank them for sharing their experience as most distraught customers simply walk out of the door, only to never come back.
Brand #5: Amazon
Amazon always continues to improve its offerings to enhance customer experience. A great example of this is the Amazon Prime plan which offers benefits such as faster delivery, access to their OTT platforms, etc., which is projected to have 168 million subscribers by 2025.
This commitment of Amazon can easily be seen delivering excellent customer service. Amazon’s strategy is to empathize with the customer and provide clear steps toward resolution. For instance, when a customer reported a missing delivery, Amazon’s response demonstrated an understanding of the customer’s frustration and immediately offered help:
Here’s what businesses can learn from Amazon’s customer service approach:
Focus on the resolution. In a situation where a customer is already upset, offering a quick and efficient solution is vital.
Protect your customers’ data by pivoting to DMs or other direct communication methods for more sensitive or detailed issues.
Conclusion
Various brands, including household names like Nike and Amazon, are leveraging social media platforms to provide effective and customized customer service in real-time. However, monitoring all channels and resolving customer queries can indeed be a challenging task for businesses, especially those with limited resources.
Keyhole, a social listening and analytics platform, helps brands get a comprehensive view of direct and indirect brand mentions, hashtags, keywords, and even influential personalities. Additionally, brands can also leverage Keyhole’s AI-powered sentiment analysis to engage with their audience appropriately and in real-time.
Keyhole also makes it easy for brands to understand their audiences and grow on social media by giving useful recommendations, such as the best times to post and which hashtags to use, and helps identify potential brand advocates for partnerships.
Furthermore, brands can discover industry trends, conduct competitor analysis, and keep an eye on industry leaders, much like Google Trends, but for social media.
Related Articles:
Nike’s Social Media Strategy: A Deep Dive Into Campaigns & Statistics
SKIMS’ Social Media Strategy: Shaped Via Inclusive Influencer Marketing
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What companies use social media for customer service?
Some well-known examples include Nike, Spotify, Wendy's, Starbucks, and Amazon. These brands have dedicated social media handles to provide efficient, real-time customer support and to engage with their audience.
2. How is social media used for customer service?
Social media is used for customer service by providing real-time responses to customer inquiries and complaints. Brands leverage these platforms to interact with customers, address their concerns, provide solutions, and enhance their overall customer experience.
3. How do businesses use social media to attract customers?
Businesses use social media to attract customers by sharing engaging content, running promotional campaigns, and responding promptly to inquiries. They also use these platforms to showcase customer testimonials, engage in conversations, and build a community around their brand.
4. Why should brands use social media for customer service?
Brands should use social media for customer service as it allows for real-time communication with customers which improves customer satisfaction and brand image. Additionally, it's where customers are — with a majority of the population using social media, it's a crucial touchpoint for customer interaction.
5. What are some best practices for using social media for customer service?
Responding quickly, personalizing replies, keeping support and marketing accounts separate, providing clear resolution steps, and consistently monitoring and evolving service workflows are some of the best practices brands should keep in mind while using social media for customer service.
6. What are the challenges associated with providing customer service via social media?
Providing customer service via social media presents challenges like managing high volumes of inquiries, maintaining speedy response times, and ensuring consistent, high-quality responses across multiple platforms. Additionally, public complaints require careful handling to maintain a positive brand image.