The post 9 Best Practices For Social Based Customer Care appeared first on HostGator Blog . It is no question that social channels can be an extremely valuable tool for a business. It not only increases brand awareness and connects you to potential users, but gives you a direct channel to your current users as well. Yet, as the saying goes, ‘with great power comes great responsibility.’ Now that you are talking to your users, know that your users are talking to you, and it is not always positive. Using social media as a tool for customer care not only let users feel heard in a medium they feel comfortable with, but it also sends the right signals to potential customers about how you treat your users. Here are some best practices to doing this properly. 1. Don’t Disregard The Issue Everyone wants to be heard, and a generic, “take a look at our FAQ’s page for answers to most of your issues,” is just useless enough for your user to look elsewhere. Put a pinned comment at the top of your Facebook page, or in your twitter bio, that sends user to try your customer care channels first. Many may ignore it, but a number will listen and be dealt with there, only coming back if the problem persists. You may need to try harder to keep them happy after the process but at least it isn’t clogging up your social feed. 2. Treat Your Users As People Not Problems Don’t be afraid to banter and have an informal chat, as long as you don’t make it inappropriate or too personal for a public forum. Users respond to the human element and will have a more positive impression than if they receive generic, robotic answers. Look at your user’s basic information. The instructions you give to a tech-savvy teen, would not be appropriate for someone with less technology experience. Adapt your support accordingly. 3. Keep It Short And Sweet You need to keep you user engaged, the worst kind of service is one that is met by the sound of crickets because you have lost your audience 4 tweets ago. Make sure your answers are informative but do not drag on longer than necessary. If you can be as effective with three words as using a paragraph, opt for the three. You will maintain your audience’s attention span and not make them feel that their time has been wasted with superfluous information. 4. Don’t Be Afraid To Take It Elsewhere Some issues are universal and your reply could be of value to all users, if this is not the case, then you should carry on the conversation in a direct message or through email. If they have opened a support ticket before contacting you, take their ticket number and flag it up with your support staff to be prioritized. 5. Give Clear Answers Try to make your post, tweet or Facebook message as informative as possible. Be aware that talking on your Facebook homepage or through main twitter channels means that anyone can see your interaction. Both current and potential users can be listening, and your decorum can be a make or break for some of them. Make sure not only that you are patient and helpful, but also that you are using proper grammar and punctuation. When someone’s account is frozen, it is not the time to bombard them with emojis. 6. Look Out For The Little Guy There will always be that shy user that will post once, oftentimes as part of an unrelated thread that will get lost unless you are actively looking out for them. Signaling them out and answering their issues or concerns sets you apart from much of the competition, and lets the user feel important which could result in lifelong loyalty. 7. Deal With Complaints Some users are out for blood, ignoring a negative comment can be more disastrous than you realize. Be warned that some users may use their social following to bombard you page or ‘trash’ your brand. They can do this by creating inflammatory hashtags or posting multiple comments across all of your social channels. Early intervention is key here. 8. Separate The Wheat From The Chaff Not all users on your social channels are what they seem. Keep a sharp eye out for competitors looking to harm your brand, and destroy your service’s reputation. If you are sure a user is not what they seem, and they are becoming more hassle than their worth, don’t be afraid to block them from your account. You should only do this as a last resort! A perfect page looks fake, and will cause you to loose trust from potential users. 9. Manage Expectations If you are a small business, no one expects you to have a large social media support team. Be honest with your audience and don’t spread yourself too thin. If users know that it could take up to a few days to have their complaint attended to, their expectations will be better managed and they are less likely to be fed-up and leave. Just be sure to keep your promises, if you say it will be up to two days, make sure it is. ***** Natalie Lehrer is a senior contributor for CloudWedge . In her spare time, Natalie enjoys exploring all things cloud and is a music enthusiast. Follow Natalie’s daily posts on Twitter: @ Cloudwedge , or on Facebook . Image source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rosauraochoa/3256859352/in/photolist-5XNfPs-dUmKE4-amC4jN-6mYWTq-aFy3bt-dZxNRq-6u2DBs-5XJ1Qc-9eVCSc-99BVQZ-9MoWtb-9hNywz-9x7H6Z-8bspY4-4oUWXS-6DtPYC-axnKy3-6u2Dkq-7rY7do-6qPE85-7YNkeA-7YNkh5-8Q7LKc-8Q7LSH-8Q7LZ4-8QaSeA-9yMPBV-71ZNv4-8NyVNa-yv3t2-6tXvgR-6qPE89-7oytoK-8H6Z3P-6qPE8f-aucWr1-dU7Cn1-9iAUEF-9iAVoa-9iAVf2-9iE4fm-9iATSR-9iE2eb-9iE3uw-9iAWvP-9iATHv-9iAUmz-9iAUY2-9iE4od-9iE47b web hosting