You can have the greatest social media content in the world, but if you don’t have stellar engagement tactics, it means pretty much nothing. If you’ve ever wondered how to craft perfect social media responses, we’ve got the ultimate guide prepared for you below.
Know Your Audience
First things first, know who you’re talking to on social media before you respond. Is it appropriate to use humor in your tone? Keep it more serious? Throw in some emojis? This all varies depending on the kind of audience your brand attracts. Be sure your response matches your overall company voice before hitting that send button. It can have more of an effect than you may realize.
Look to Other Brands for Inspiration
Crafting the perfect social media response isn’t always a walk in the park. Yet, you can most likely, think of a brand that has stellar customer service. Our advice? Look and see how they are responding to their customers inquiries! You can then take what they are saying and use this as a template for your own future responses.
Create Prepared Responses
While keeping things personal is important (so important that we’ve added it below), it’s also nice to have an idea of what to say before a message comes into your inbox. Often times, people end up asking the same questions in different ways. Take the time to make a frequently asked question list (with answers) for yourself. Then, from there, tailor your response to fit the specific need of the customer who is messaging. It always helps to be prepared ahead of time.
Keep it Personal
No one likes to receive a robotic response, especially from a brand they really admire or need to speak with urgently. Make sure to craft your social media responses with personality and care. Address the person who messages you by their first name and let them know you’re there for them. If there is an issue, do your best to pacify them and pass them off to the appropriate source. If they are giving your company a compliment or asking a question, be sure to keep an enthused tone throughout the entirety of your message. Look back to your prepared responses and make them your own!
Respond to the Negative, As Well As the Positive
Getting negative feedback is never ideal, especially if it isn’t merited. However, it happens at some point or another to every business, so do your best to take it like a champ. Make EVERY person commenting or messaging feel heard, including the negative Nancys. A simple apology, or asking them to shoot you a DM to clarify can go a long way. Having those crafted responses can also help you keep your cool should a customer really hit a nerve.
Watch out for Text Length
What we mean by this is simple, respond in an appropriate manner to the way the customer initially wrote to you. For example, if you get a social media message that is a paragraph long, don’t simply respond with a one word answer. Craft a message that lets your customer know you read every word and are gracious that he/she took the time to write to you. Use your best judgement on how much is too much, and how much is too little. Put yourself in their shoes and think what kind (and how long) of response you’d like to read before hitting send.
Proofread
There’s nothing worse than catching a professional brand making spelling or grammar errors. Don’t let it happen to you! Read over your social media response several times before hitting send. It’s also a good idea to have a friend or colleague read your message as well, as an extra set of eyes can often see things the person writing can’t. If you still find yourself making errors, use editing systems like Grammarly to keep you on the right track.
Conclusion
Responding to customers on social media pages isn’t always an easy task, but it may not be quite as daunting as you think! Follow our helpful pointers to keep on track, and if you need more social media marketing services, we’re a click away!
Have anything to add to our list? Comment below!
