The ABC’s of implementing social media within your call center

With the advent of the digital age, social media has become the preferred platform for customer services. Whether you are looking for better customer satisfaction or prospecting a new audience. Here’s what you need to know about implementing social media within your call center service.

In this day and age and with the role that social media plays in our daily lives, it`s absurd to wonder whether your call center should manage Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and other platforms as a solution for customer services. We will analyze the challenges you will face, the best strategy you need to adopt and the benefits you can derive from it.

How to integrate social media into your call center, step-by-step guide

Of course, integrating social media channels into your workflow is a challenge in itself. But it is not as complicated as one might think. Here’s a simple guideline on how to implement social media into your call center.

1. Understand the Business Model

At its core, handling a client on social media is not so different from an inbound or outbound call. In other words, you need to know the primary demands of your customer or your prospect and then match up or exceed his expectation with your suggestions.

In order to accomplish this level of quality, your team must be able to identify customer concerns and resolve their problems at the first contact. Furthermore, the advantage of such platforms is that you can know the interests, locations, and content that is more appealing to your audience. Therefore, helping you to achieve a higher level of customer satisfaction.

2. Get a software

Even if you know your audience, show a good level of responsiveness and have a highly competent team at your disposal. Everything will go to waste if you don’t have an adequate solution to handle your audience. You need contact center technology that allows you to manage a high volume of customer and prospect interactions in an omnichannel method.

Indeed, by integrating a true omnichannel technology solution such as OMNI+ you can manage and organize an impressive number of interactions at the same time. You will ensure that there are no gaps between the different contact points and social media interactions.

3. Train your agents

You certainly understand that you need a team with the necessary skills to handle the social media environment. Each one has its own rules and methods to address the audience. If LinkedIn requires a more professional tone of voice, the Facebook interaction is more relaxed and with a social, friendly vibe.

Make sure that your agents are properly trained to run your digital interactions smoothly and that the client demands are handled in an appropriate matter and adequate time.

4. Pitch your clients

Your call center is first and foremost a company and you need to put yourself out there on the map if you want to be recognized and gain additional business. Now that you are ready to take on the digital world of social media, you can also add it to your business services. Meaning that you can pitch your new service to your current and potential clients.

How to build the perfect strategy for your call center?

There is no blueprint for a perfect social media strategy that fits all call centers. The best approach for your contact center is a customized plan that meets the needs of your business. The key to success lies in the art of knowing the levers that apply to you.

However, you must follow the best practices in terms of community management. This includes:

1. Staying in touch with your customers

This approach shows your client that you are dynamic in your sector. To do this, you can start by getting customers to react to their appreciation or experience of your product or service. The goal is to stay in touch with him.

2. Creating valuable content

By highlighting your product or service with quality content. Your audience can get relevant information about what you offer while also stimulating community conversations about your business. As an example, you can create short tutorial videos on how your business operates with a self-service dimension.

3. Engaging your public

One of the most creative ways to engage new customers is by contests. You can ask your audience to vote for their favorite products or choose the name of future service. Don’t forget that the best audience is one that is organized as a community. So take the opportunity to create one around your business.

4. Consistency is the best policy

Consistency in your service will give you a higher level of customer loyalty. Make sure that your customers are satisfied, maintain proactive communication, and always stay ahead of the competition.

Benefits & Takeaway

Integrating social media channels into your workflow requires a good dose of determination and willingness to change your old way of handling interactions, both inbound and outbound. But the benefits will help you stay ahead of your competition, especially since more than 70% of all call centers in the US are still not using an omnichannel solution. Here are some more benefits:

• A more personalized interaction with your customers,
• A quality display of values and relevant information about your company,
• High-quality advertising with more precise segmentation of your target audience,
• Create and build beneficial business partnerships,
• Free up traffic on other communication channels while responding to more requests.
• More interactions to increase audience loyalty.

By no means, the implementation of social media aims at replacing your phone services. The ultimate goal here is about being where your client is, regardless of the communication channel.