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.