Brands must up their social media response performance

When ad agency Arnold Worldwide surveyed 2,400 consumers from the U.S., U.K., China and Brazil, overall 59% said they expect brands to respond to their social media comments and questions at least most of the time, reports ClickZ.

This ties in nicely with other recent studies, such as that by Maritz Research, which found 51% of social media users expect brands to respond, and data released by SocialBakers which found 56% of consumers expect a response.

When broken down by country, as per Arnold Worldwide's research, consumer social media use and expectations can be seen to vary significantly.

% Left social media comments

China - 74%
Brazil - 68%
U.S. - 48%
U.K. - 45%

% Expect response at least most of the time

Brazil - 83%
China - 74%
U.K. - 40%
U.S. - 39%

Looking at all the recent research, it's clear to see that consumer expectations on social media aren't being met. Brands are too slow to respond or, worse still, aren't responding at all.

How fast is 'fast'?

A survey by Conversocial found that over half of U.S. consumers (55%) found their social media customer service experiences "disappointing" or "mediocre". They just weren't getting a fast enough response.

Almost 30% of respondents expected a reply within the same business day and the same number expected a reply "within hours". A similar number (29.7%) expected a response in less than an hour, of which 16.6% wanted a super-fast reply in less than 10 minutes.

"This research reflects the mixed experiences consumers are having, shining a spotlight on the discrepancies in performance among many companies in the same sector," said Conversocial CEO, Joshua March.

"Bottom line, while traditionally consumers are rarely satisfied completely with customer service, fast and efficient social customer service can quickly change the old paradigm and create a viral effect of consumers actually praising rather than vilifying companies," he added.

Tags: brand management, communication, consumer attitudes, consumer insight, customer service, social media