Social media is new customer service frontier

It's no longer good enough to have just an 0800 number, FAQ page or even email to deal with customer service queries. Today's consumer wants to engage with a company's customer service via social media including Twitter, Facebook, blogs and forums, found the "Social Media Customer Service Report" conducted by TNS.

In fact, the first thing over half (57%) of consumers do when they have a problem with a brand or product is to head online. That figure rises to almost three-quarters (71%) among 16-25 year olds and 65% among 25-34 year olds.

Where do they look for answers? A third of consumers have used online forums and chatrooms while a quarter have turned to video tutorials either on a company's website or on YouTube. Just under 1 in 5 have used question websites such as Yahoo Answers or Facebook Questions and 11% have used a blog.

"By creating digital content that solves customers' common problems and making it widely available online, businesses can significantly reduce customer frustration and be seen as a user-friendly brand while lowering the costs associated with live agent support," says the report. "When asked what companies could do to improve the customer service experience, 35% of all respondents, including nearly half (48%) of 16-24 year olds, said "post video demonstrations, tutorials and instructions."

Tags: blogs, brand management, customer service, Facebook, forums, loyalty marketing, social media