Customers judge your company by the responsiveness of the first employee they come in contact with. This probably makes you think of your front desk staff answering your phones, greeting customers and responding to email. In this day and age, it is also now critical to think of your social media presence as well. Your Facebook, Google +, Twitter, and whatever other social media accounts you maintain are the newest channels that customers will use to not only get in contact with you, but to receive customer support.

This means that you have to be just as attentive to your social media websites as you are to your phone and email. In fact, social media can be one of your customers’ first lines of contact because it can be accessed 24/7 as opposed to phones that will not be picked up after business hours.

One of the most proven use cases for social media for small businesses is it’s value for customer engagement. This means servicing current customers and dialoguing with potential customers. Maintenance of your social media accounts can brand a company for having bad customer service if a customer messages you and you take a month to respond back. Word to the wise: only have as many social media accounts as you can actively maintain. Better to do one well than to do five poorly.

Here are business practices to ensure great customer service through your social media pages:

1. Have your social media apps on your phone.

Make sure you “allow push notifications,” which means that your apps will alert you to new messages and updates. This will remind you to check your social media sites regularly and to ensure a better response time. And please do respond quickly. Most customers will be alerted on their own phones when you’ve seen their direct message through Facebook and assume you have bad customer service if you do not promptly respond.

2. Have a dog boarding software that syncs with your social media.

PawLoyalty Software will prompt your customers to share their pet profile activity with their Facebook friends and Twitter followers. When your customers share with pet owner friends that they have just booked an appointment or received a service at your facility, their friends could see this information in their feed and easily click through to your Facebook and Twitter pages. Assign your employees the task of monitoring your social media accounts. You do not want to miss out on an opportunity to win new customers through this word-of-mouth 2.0 sharing.

3. Enable a "Book Online" tab on your Facebook page.

By creating a “Book Online” option from your Facebook page you are making it that much easier and more convenient for your customers to book an appointment with you! This tab will allow your customers to use the PawLoyalty online booking widget through your Facebook page. This in tandem with having a “Book Now” button on your website provides two simple ways for your to allow you customers to make reservations through your dog daycare software. They may not need to go through an extra step of messaging you if they see actionable steps right in front of them.

4. Update your social media with your business' news.

If you are holding an event, are closed for vacation, or are setting new prices for your peak season, then it’s important to let your customers know through social media. Your Facebook and Twitter are where a lot of your customers will check for accurate and up to date information about your facility. Your customer service routine should incorporate communication with your customers via social media because they check their own pages regularly and some prefer to receive updates that way.

5. Choose only one or two social media sites.

We recommend Facebook as your starting point. It is better to be active on the social networks that you can maintain regularly (to check at least once every day) than to join several social networks that you only check and update occasionally. Your customers won’t benefit from trying to reach you on a platform that is inactive.

Don’t shy away from social media! It’s a great marketing and community resource. Having a Facebook page comes with more responsibility, but with the new age of technology underfoot, customers have come to expect each business to have one. Take steps to add social media to the flow of you or your employee’s daily routine. Your customers’ gratitude for great customer support will result in more referrals and repeat business!

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Have any other tips for using social media as a customer service tool? Let us know!