Social Media Response Times

By Martha Wilson

You wouldn’t dream of allowing your phone to ring off the hook, or let a customer go straight to voicemail. In today’s business climate, responsiveness is the key to your company’s success.

If your organization has embraced social media (and if it hasn’t, it’s missing out on major customer connections) what’s the next step? You must consistently respond – to  Facebook comments, e-mail questions, tweets, and Blog posts.

First, post your hours of operation on your profile page to let customers know what to expect. If you aren’t monitoring your pages at 3 a.m., say so. That way, you won’t turn off the insomniacs.

Customers who email expect you will acknowledgement their request within one to two hours. This is especially true when you’re dealing with a complaint. Other email messages should be answered in 24 hours.

Twitter is a more immediate challenge. You should try to respond within a half hour. If your customers are tweeting, they expect more immediate feedback.

Facebook communication is a 24-7 thing. But if someone files  a complaint, you’ll want to respond in under an hour.  Questions and other customer service issues can be handled in under two hours. You should weigh in on general conversation or comments within a day.

Blogs and Forums require the same attention as Facebook – that is, daily.  Remember that best practices mean you respond at least within a day.

Social media is a more effective, more direct, more instantaneous way to say, “This company cares and this company responds.”  Businesses need to learn to adapt, and adapt quickly.

Fast food restaurants get it.

McDonalds, Wendy’s, and Chick-Fil-A have all captured more than a million fans on their Facebook pages. They are versed in “fast” as a key driver for customers. Wendy’s had an astonishing 20-minute response time to more than 6,000 posts in January 2001, according to Jason Falls, founder/editor of Social Media Explorer.

What’s the secret? These companies, understanding the strong correlation between responsiveness and engagement – hire people to do it.

If you communicate with your customers through social media, or are considering it, make the time to respond. It’s the smartest way to attract and keep your client base.

Martha Wilson is an associate at Web Face, (http:web-face-solutions.com), a marketing and communications company that will help you listen to and respond to your clients on social media channels.

Are Universities Today's Living Dinosaurs?

By John McGory

Social media is the greatest “do-it-yourself” communications tool of all time. Unlike the printing press, telegraph, telephone, radio and television, social media unleashes the power of the individual to communicate to the world.

Social media puts the printing press into each of our hands.  It makes us television producers, columnists and telegraph operators.  We can form and enrich relationships with people around the world and down the street.  “Social” in this context means much more than a “howdy-doo neighbor.”

This medium is still in its infancy. We will determine what it grows up to be.  Our hands are on the controls. How will it change us?  Here are a few potential areas. 

Social media will further democratize knowledge.  The printing press took the power of knowledge away from the Church and made it secular.  Social media will do the same to large institutions.  Universities, governments and corporations will face challenges.

Advertising will not be the obtrusive ogre that has stalked us for decades.  People will exchange information among peers regarding products and services.  Companies that abuse our trust will suffer.  Television, radio and newspapers will not hold the captive audiences they once did, so molding public opinion will be challenging.

Politics will see rapid change.  Like-minded people will find it easier to collaborate on issues.  Politicians will bypass traditional media sources and speak directly to the people, but this freedom comes with a price.  Politicians who lie to the public will be sent packing.  Campaign contributors may wield less influence as social media reintroduces democracy to our political system.

Social media will drive down profit margins.  The flow of information among people will expose cost differentials among similar products.  Businesses will need to keep up with lower-priced competitors or face the consequences.

So how does a business prepare for such tumultuous change?  Here are a few simple “do-it-yourself” activities:

1.  Get training on how to effectively use social media. Owners need to quit pretending social media is a fad and understand its implications to business.

2.  Review your advertising mix and track its effectiveness.  If certain forms of your advertising have slumped it may not be due to the recession.  Fundamental changes are taking place and it may be time to try new strategies.

3.  Tell the truth.  The fastest way to oblivion is deceiving your customers.

4.  Don’t oversell when using social media.  How bored are you when someone tries to sell you insurance at a cocktail party?  Social media is the same.  Bores will not be tolerated.

Social media will change the world forever.  Its power is not yet fully understood.  What is established, however, is that we are not going back to traditional advertising, politics and business as usual. 

Aldous Huxley’s wrote in Brave New World that “When the individual feels, the community reels.”  Social media allows the individual to feel and tell his friends all about it.  The community is beginning to reel.

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 John McGory is a partner at Web Face (www.web-face-solutions.com) , a marketing and communications company that helps businesses and organizations prepare for the future.