How many times have you logged into Twitter to see people ranting at a specific brand or company? Twitter’s famous for being the go-to place for complaining about bad customer service and demand changes. That’s why it’s so important for a business on Twitter to make sure they respond to customers properly and within an acceptable time. To talk more about response times and understand its value for a brand, we invited social media strategist, Jen Cole.
Here’s a summary of our chat.
Guest: Jen Cole
Topic: Importance of Response Times
Format: Eight questions directed at the guest. Everyone’s welcome to share.
Response time is just that; it’s the time it takes for a brand to reply to questions, issues, and mentions on social media. This also includes direct messages and product/service complaints.
A1. Response time is simply the time that it takes for a brand to respond back to a comment, mention, or DM to any of their social media channels. #TwitterSmarter https://t.co/d8gpCmqDnF
— Jen Cole (@jencoleICT) August 20, 2020
With social media’s fleeting nature, people generally expect you to respond sooner than you would to emails. If you’re selling a product, you’ll know that customers take to Twitter to demand rapid resolutions to their problems.
An interesting way to look at this, is as Rajendra said. You can think of it as a first response, but funnily enough, you might have to think long and hard before you actually send that reply. You don’t want to offend anyone or trigger a negative thread.
A1: Time taken for the first reaction.#TwitterSmarter
— Rajendra Zore (@rajendrazore) August 20, 2020
Pretty much every business should care about their response times. As our guest mentioned, being prompt shows that you care about your audience. What’s more, it makes a great first impression on people who are not your customers yet. A good response time can help bring these potentials a step closer to buying from you.
A2. In my opinion, any business who truly respect their customers and online community should care about having a good response time. This shows your fans that you really care about what they think. #TwitterSmarter https://t.co/hcNokoSuNt
— Jen Cole (@jencoleICT) August 20, 2020
After all, as Gary reminded us, social media, and especially Twitter, is a major customer support channel. You don’t want to disappoint your customers.
A2 #twittersmarter – Every business! Your customers deserve prompt, courteous, personal replies. Customer service should be at the heart of every organisation. Be Nice. Be Great. Be Remembered. #ETSBook
— Gary Ennis (@nsdesign) August 20, 2020
As you’d probably know, Twitter has become notorious as the ideal platform for unhappy customers. From banks to online retailers, every business strives to respond as soon as possible. It matters because that’s the bar people measure you against on social media. The more interactive and responsive you are, the better.
A3. Twitter is a platform that is known for moving very quickly and its users tend to expect responses that are as close to “in-real-time” as possible. Twitter is a place where people commonly turn to for customer service issues! #TwitterSmarter https://t.co/EMUP3EN8Tw
— Jen Cole (@jencoleICT) August 20, 2020
Janette said it well. She gave a succinct explanation on how you should respond to various people. If it’s a customer, reply as soon as possible. For friends, respond soon. If it’s a troll, don’t respond at all, and if it’s a conversation thread, keep the discussion flowing.
A3. It all depends on who you are responding to
1. Customer: ASAP
2. Friend: soon
3. Troll: never
4. Conversation: respond to keep it going. #twittersmarter https://t.co/30Kc5wt2MQ— Janette Speyer (@JanetteSpeyer) August 20, 2020
It’s helpful to define your response time. Not only for customers, but also for whoever manages your social media handles. That way, they’ll know what your audience expects from them and is used to.
A4. In my opinion, it’s a smart idea to clearly define an expected response time in your social media strategy so that social media managers are informed about what their community expects from them. It’s just another piece of important communications among teams. #TwitterSmarter https://t.co/G60PlW1VqX
— Jen Cole (@jencoleICT) August 20, 2020
Remember, though, as Masooma pointed out, the most important thing about setting a response time is that it should be realistic and competitive at the same time.
A4. Absolutely! Set a SMART response time and try to hit it. #TwitterSmarter
— Masooma | Content Writer (@inkandcopy) August 20, 2020
This is a tricky question. Ideally, you should have a look at all your social channels at least 2-3 times a day. If you can do more than that, that’s good too. But the main idea is to make sure you respond quickly enough and that you don’t miss any mentions or direct references.
A5. It’s a good idea to monitor your social channels 2- 3 times a day in order to stay on top of any conversations that may happen around your brand, or in order to quickly solve any customer issues/inquiries that might arise throughout the day. Stay responsive! #TwitterSmarter https://t.co/gveO8lkehF
— Jen Cole (@jencoleICT) August 20, 2020
If you’re using only one or two social channels, then you might want to consider Jeremy’s suggestion. Check more frequently for Twitter and Instagram, and the least frequently for LinkedIn. At the same time, remember that you might have to change that based on your industry and the platform your audience mostly frequents.
A5: I think that you should be monitoring them everyday.
However, I think it depends on the platform for how often you check in on the platform a day.
Here is what I do:
?TW: Every 15 min
?IG: Every 1 hr
?FB: Every 2-3 hrs
?LI: 1-2 times a day#TwitterSmarter
— Jeremy Linaburg (@jeremy_linaburg) August 20, 2020
The consequences vary depending on how big your brand is. You’ll either lose a conversation or miss the chance to support a customer in real time.
A6. Depending on the brand, it can mean anything from a missed conversation opportunity to missing an opportunity to solve a crucial customer service issue in-real-time. Both of these are very important to growing a strong community! #TwitterSmarter https://t.co/gH7gElFENR
— Jen Cole (@jencoleICT) August 20, 2020
What’s more, when you don’t respond to customers as soon as possible, you also risk losing them to competitors who do respond in a timely manner. As Zen mentioned, even if you can’t provide a solution right away, try and respond to communicate that. It’s fine if you need some more time to sort out an issue—just make sure you acknowledge that on time.
A6. You loose #trust, eventually business. Look #unprofessional. Show lack of empathy
Even if you're a small biz w/out the bandwidth..RESPOND with let us look into it and come back to you/can you DM us or email us! Be present.
If you miss the window. Apologize!#TwitterSmarter https://t.co/4KIZUj2UoW— Zen Yinger (@ZenYinger) August 20, 2020
There are heaps of tools that help you manage your social media channels and respond to your community. Jen’s favorite is Agorapulse.
A7. I’ve used @Agorapulse for YEARS to make sure that I’m always responding in a timely manner on Twitter for the brands that I manage! It’s a TERRIFIC tool, and it makes it easy to stay on top of everything. #TwitterSmarter https://t.co/66sEUPQ6Xy
— Jen Cole (@jencoleICT) August 20, 2020
Smita shared a few other tools that most of our community members also agreed on.
Hootsuite, Buffer, Tweetdeck, SproutSocial, CoSchedule, and Crowdfire are all popular tools you can try for managing your social handles. However, the most important of them all is the notification icon on Twitter. Keep an eye on that constantly.
You have many online scheduler and tools to use like@hootsuite @Agorapulse @buffer @SproutSocial @TweetDeck @LoomlySocial @CoSchedule @Crowdfire
— Smita (@Smita_DigiMarke) August 20, 2020
Jen shouted out to Southwest Airlines, Freddy’s Frozen Custard and Steakhouse, and Agorapulse. Interestingly, she also mentioned how all three of them have a great culture amongst their community. That’s important for a brand that wants to be a crowd favorite.
A8. Some brands that I’ve noticed who do a great job at responding in a timely manner are these: @SouthwestAir, @FreddysUSA, and @Agorapulse. All great brands with fun online cultures! #TwitterSmarter https://t.co/KuFq8RGOn6
— Jen Cole (@jencoleICT) August 20, 2020
Carlar told us how PNC Bank, AWS, Staples, and Zappos all offer great customer support on Twitter as well.
A8: @PNCBank_Help @Staples @AWSSupport and @Zappos all have great #CustomerService #TwitterSmarter https://t.co/Af9dt6xGkB
— Carlarjenkins (@carlarjenkins) August 20, 2020
Special mentions went to SEMRush, ScotRail, Madalyn Sklar, and Social Media Examiner.
Well folks, that’s all from me this week. Thanks a lot for reading, and for more great insights from our chat with Jen, have a look at this Twitter Moment that Joana put together. If you’ve got some time to spare on Thursday, join us at 1 pm ET for the next #TwitterSmarter chat.
About me, Narmadhaa:
I write all things—technical and marketing copy to fill the pocket; haiku and short stories to fill the soul. A social media enthusiast, I’m a member of the #TwitterSmarter chat crew, and always happy to take on writing gigs.
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