Five Terrible Social Media Mistakes To Avoid This Christmas.

It’s Christmas again; the mood has really set in and the feeling plus the need to be a bit random, lazy, laid back is with us and party endlessly. When it comes to what we are sharing on social media with our communities that too has been affected by this mood. When it comes to social media, you need to be consistent as you have been throughout the year; if you are a business then you need to stick to your maintenance schedule as per the content plan you have in place. However due to several reasons, this might become a challenge due to the festivities. Here are five social media mistakes you should avoid this Xmas period to the New Year holidays. Do enjoy!

1. Doing it casually-Be careful with frequency!

Just because it’s Xmas doesn’t mean you should joke around, share stuff that is almost useless or if you are a business you post ‘irrelevant’ content that isn’t related to your business, industry or brand touch points. Don’t over-post …but don’t under-post either.  For facebook I would recommend a maximum of four posts and 10-15 tweets a day! You don’t want your posts to be so frequent that they become irrelevant to your audience.  If you have to post several times in a day just like I do please vary your content. Don’t use too much slang or your mother tongue as you may end up losing the hard earned followers you had acquired! Managing social media corporate accounts can be overwhelming as it is a 24/7/365 days job! It’s not something an organization should take a break from (not even this Xmas), you need to be consistent so please ensure you have your social media team well set for this period. Sorry if you will be working however don’t be dull-be happy and spread that Xmas cheer to your community on social media!

2.      Being Absent and Inaccessible!

Your friends want to be heard so is your community if you are a business. And the only way you can prove you are human on social media is by listening and responding. Make it part of your strategy this holiday to address inquiries, complaints and compliments ASAP if not in real time. A simple click on the LIKE or RT or FAV button shows at least there’s someone on the other end!  As you do these please ensure you don’t post tweets or updates full of errors to ensure you portray the right impression out there; so please take your time to proof read. There’s also a certain tendency to ignore certain inquiries, could be overlooked erroneously or otherwise. This sends a signal out there that the brand is unfriendly, busy to handle my inquiry or uncaring! If you use your social media channels for customer service please don’t take a break this Xmas, this also includes players in the tourism sector such as hotels, lodges, airlines and tour companies as people will be seeking information, help and making inquiries so please be present and accessible- read and respond! As you do this, please give timelines and work hard to deliver on your promise! The response you give to complaints in the public domain may set a precedent so kindly ensure that you don’t create a loophole that people may take advantage of as you seek to delight people this Xmas!

3.       Being a Billboard!

Social media can be extremely beneficial to you and your business; whist sharing your own content online (marketing) ensure you do not over promote yourself, your business or that Xmas offer or promo you are running as a brand. Those who only share their own content are transparent and audiences online look at that as purely selfish and switch off quickly so don’t talk about yourself and what you are doing all the time! Social media is about the people, please avoid the “Me Me Me” kind of posts and give your community something more beneficial & entertaining! If you are running a promo consider including give aways, coupons or gift hampers to spark initiative and make the campaign less of spam or annoying.

• A good ratio of sharing to promoting your own content is 4:1 as a minimum (the more you share about other valuable content i.e. less marketing messages, the more you get in return).

Take time to listen, share entertaining content (people want to be happy/ we are celebrating).  Be sure you only share content that adds value to your community – content which they’ll find useful. This means that you should understand the demographics of your friends or fans. If it’s a mixed up case scenario share content that benefits people across the board. Providing different types of content has been proven to engage audiences more effectively. And please DON’T forget to wish your friends/fans/followers and LinkedIn connections a MERRY XMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR! I know everyone will be doing that so why don’t you also do it too, come up with something creative, local and cool that stands out, something that people can share and feel deeply appreciated by your business or brand!

4.Keep private things private.

Facebook and Twitter is very much in the public domain (yet it’s often perceived as private at the same time), there are numerous examples of how private (often extremely personal) information has ended up in the public domain. If you say the wrong things, it could damage your professional reputation.  Don’t post too much information on your private life (its okay to let people know you travelled up country or to the coast but not post everything you ate from breakfast to dinner, photos of your extended family and the dirt in your private life). It’s just an update; don’t share info on your recent breakups (If you’ve got problems FACE them do not FACEBOOK them!), social places you frequent regularly for security reasons, don’t post vital information on people’s walls too. That includes photos of you in the beach with bikinis and girlfriends or your family (Keep that to yourself too). Don’t put anything on the internet- read Social media that you don’t want your future boss, current client or potential clients to read. This is so basic and will help you a lot this Xmas.

5.      Posting ‘Drunk Tweets’!

Never post or tweet when you’re overly-tired, jet lagged, intoxicated, angry or upset. This is so important yet most people will ignore it over these holidays. Please avoid tweeting too much when you are drunk so that you don’t wake up to ‘stupid’ tweets that will leave people worried and asking whether your account was hacked into! When people are drunk they also tend to say where they are, with who and doing what which tends to divulge too much of private information. If you are out of town, such info could aid a burglary in your house (That includes checking into 4Sq every time) and if the person managing your business accounts starts tweeting over a beer then that could mess you up seriously! Just ensure you have people working on shifts to help with official corporate channels and if possible ensure you give that job to the right person/s just in case the workload is huge!

Have a merry Xmas and a happy new year!

Muthuri Kinyamu is a Social Media Strategist at Social Edge Africa the company behind @SocialPROclubs and you can follow him on Twitter @KenyanMarketer 

 

A Beginners Guide To Being an Influential Tweep in Kenya- Tweet like a PRO!

Ten Basic Social Media Tips for Beginner #KoT

Of late in my pitches (am a freelance social media strategist and consultant) I realized that most Kenyans have this weird phobia and ignorance for Twitter. Most do not seem to understand ‘how to join the conversation’ and be part of it whereas others lack the basic understanding of the powerful micro-blogging site. For most business owners and managers feel that Twitter could do more harm than good to their brands and business and have rather unrealistic objectives and targets. Well, just in case you are among the lost in this Twitter-sphere and I want to share with you a few tips to help you navigate your way in the Twitter streets and gain followers and most important the influence! Just before we go on, kindly note that Twitter is nothing much of a technology but a conversation that continues with or without you and the beauty of it all is you choose which conversation, tribe or community to join & belong to!

Read on, become a #SocialPRO; a Twitter power user in this case.

1. Have a bio.

Your Twitter bio is a great place to show how interesting and cool you are. Make a list of the things you love, your passion, stuff you like doing and what you do as well as your goals in life, career and business. Explain what you did in the past, what you are doing now and what you want to do in the future. (Remember you only have 140 characters)Whatever it is, share it. Do not have an empty bio. You also need to have a profile picture and the headline cover; if you are creative enough do something on your Twitter background.  You can use your name as the @username or have @funnyname as long it defines your aspirations!(Choose one that suits you) but above all ensure your bio says something about your background, forte and interests. You can check mine @KenyanMarketer for tips by the way!

2.  Start Networking.

Do you love sports? Search for people who have interacted with that topic in the recent past and engage them. You may follow 100 tweeps using a trick called “Catch and Release” where you follow targeted followers in your field and clean up those who do not follow back! (Using Tweepi you can clean up the unfollowers). Are you a developer, a techie or a creative or want to be one? Start networking with other tweeps doing what you love or what you want to be in future. Attend Tweetups and use hashtags in your industry to share your opinions or thoughts on certain topics and events. You also need to attend events in your areas of interest so check around for things happening around what you do and join the convo! When you attend a conference tweet like a madman (or like @RobertAlai when he’s paid to tweet at a launch! This will make you the go-to person who seems to know what’s going on and you’ll pick up some followers, RT’s, Favs and countless replies. Check out tweeps using the same hashtag and engage them as that’s how you build genuine followers who stick by you! Birds of the same feather flock together!

3.  Share Remarkable Content.

The best thing to show you have depth in what you do and your industry you need to share content you’ve read and found useful. The other way of doing this is to follow bloggers in your field and leave great replies or mention them on your tweets. You can also mention a high profile Twitter user in your tweet – For example, tweet, “Hey, @KenyanMarketer, I loved your post on @CIOEastAfrica on why companies need a social media manager. Interesting read that makes business sense!” and I will RT it, engage you further and follow you back! Remember not to overdo this so you don’t become a ‘nuisance’ to these tweeps! Just leave insightful replies once in a while. You may also try tweet something humorous as over 84% of retweets tend to be something funny! Still on this, to gain more RT’s use around 70-100 words so that you leave space for @Username and a comment just in case tweeps wants to add a comment and RT it!

4.  Be Bold, Current and Suave.

Don’t be afraid to share your thoughts, opinions, ideas and your life on Twitter. I don’t recommend sharing everything that comes to your mind. Follow the right people to ensure you get reliable info first hand as well as great content which you can share to your followers. To show you are ‘smart’ you may differ with their opinions to spark a discussion around the link you’ve shared! Alternatively why not participate in an industry chat like #ChaseDebate if you are in the banking and financial sector? Seen the #HBRchat? Can you leave an insightful and well thought reply that sparks a discussion? What’s your opinion on KE politics, alliances and the CORDs? Can you tweet something that’s not tribal and well thought analysis that holds water? As you strive to be bold remember to either be a ‘rebel or play the hero’.

5. Be a Content Creator.

I should have started with this; I’ve had great success picking up followers simply by writing content for other blogs as my guests posts are published across the internet. Depending on the size of the blog and traffic, you can get from 10 to 100 new followers from one post. Just make sure in your author bio you include a link to your Twitter profile. Popularity isn’t influence on Twitter; you don’t become influential simply because you tweet but because you are a consistent good content creator. I contribute articles to leading blogs such as CIO East Africa, SocialPROclubs, Humanipo, iHub.co.ke, Under30 CEO’s, Career Point Kenya and still getting requests to write for more! You could also create your own blog and publish content around your hobby, passion, career or profession. Don’t be idle as Caroline Mutoko bluntly puts it!

6.  Start Bottom Going up

Have you seen ‘unknown people’ who always say hi to @Bobcollymore, @MartinOduorO, @AlykhanSatchu and other CEO’s on Twitter every morning? Well these ‘big’ tweeps are ruthless and will treat you as an intruder. Mentioning @RobertAlai on every PRO Raila tweet to earn a RT may not yield much!  So here’s what you do, start with people you know, you could ask your friends on Facebook to follow you on Twitter. Start engaging the ‘kawaida’ tweeps as you work your way up! I know this sounds mean but everyone had 0, 10, 20, 50, 100 followers at one point so work your way up dutifully! You can engage thought leaders on certain topics in your field as well as use #tags like, and popular ones like #FF or use #TwitterBigStick for your –ve customer experience and Sunny will give you a RT among others.  (Be smart here)

7.      Don’t be an idiot!

Avoid sharing content that your followers will not find interesting, relevant or useful…and avoid sharing content that is too popular or has been shared multiple times in other places. Show your followers that you are on the cutting edge. Avoid copy and pasting people’s tweets especially on TT’s as people have read them elsewhere! Posting alarming tweets, content that’s boring, not true and plain stupid will chase away the 50 followers you had gained. So sound a bit clever…use Twitter to track news so that you don’t tweet stuff that happened 8 hours ago as #BREAKING! Ooh, if you are a joker and want to establish yourself as one, then you can get yourself a community of idiots too!

8.    Be consistent but Post Less

You don’t tweet endlessly one day and never wake up to it next day! You need some consistency and a balanced tweeting schedule! You need to schedule social media time; maybe you tweet in the morning, at lunch, during breaks and in the evenings. You may also share content across platforms – thus drawing people from Facebook, LinkedIn or Instagram to Twitter and split time between these social sites. Remember you still have friends on facebook, connections on LinkedIn and followers on Pinterest so share content on these platforms too as you try to draw these communities to ‘join the convo’ by following you on Twitter. Being consistent doesn’t mean tweeting endlessly; so post less, listen more and participate in convos!

9.      Use tools!

The good news is you can automate part of your presence on Twitter by using certain tools. Use Buffer  to have a more balanced tweeting schedule throughout the day, Use Tweriod  to see when your friends tweet then with Plugin time your tweets and publish them when your community is online for maximum engagement. This is good when you are travelling, as all you need is to load you Buffer app and it will tweet your stuff away! There’s Twitter for SMS too so you can tweet via text just in case the urge to tweet becomes irresistible! (can be addictive by the way)

10.  Do all the above!

Thank you for reading this post to point number 9, so my point 10 is to remind you to practice the above nine tips dutifully and follow my advice keenly! Cool? But since you are still here with me I want to give you one extra tip, a bonus! You need to get the above tips RIGHT as it is pointless to be using Twitter because everybody else tells you it’s cool!  Sounds rude? Hope not and if it is, I have no apologies!

Well I hoped you liked the post so please follow me @KenyanMarketer & share this post with your friends! The process of becoming the next KE Twitter power user starts NOW!

The Launch Of SocialPRO (Social Media) Clubs In Kenya.

The growth of social media in business and communication in Kenya has necessitated Social Edge Africa to spearhead the formation of social media clubs in universities. The Ministry of Information and Communication endorsed the initiative and on Thursday 25th of October 2012 we launched SocialPRO clubs and a new campaign to promote responsible & ethical use of Social Media at the UoN; Lower Kabete Campus. The Guest of Honour was Dr. Bitange Ndemo, other guest speakers include;
Cynthia Nyamai- TV personality
Maryann Michuki- Social Media Manager-Safaricom
Sriram Bharatam-Founder of Kuza Biashara
Doreen Waithera – CEO MSK
Evans Muriu-Wanadamu Initiative
Muthuri Kinyamu- Social Edge Africa
Kennedy Gathu-Lari Smart Villages
Calvin Nyakundi- Discussion on online freedom moderated by Cherrie of KBC.
According to the 24 year old Muthuri Kinyamu, the founder and business director at Social Edge Africa, “The core objective of these clubs is to teach, educate, create awareness and impart knowledge & skills of various disciplines of social media and platforms to the university students”.

The initiative seeks to develop a talent pool of graduates with a solid understanding of new media to bridge the knowledge gap and demand there is today for people with skills and expertise in various disciplines of social media especially.

These clubs in a nutshell will unlock the potential on social media to the students, expose them to the limitless possibilities online and help faculty integrate various social media networking sites to teaching to ease content sharing and make learning more fun. The faculty will also learn how to create, optimize and share digital content in various formats with students across various platforms as well as help them embrace new media and thus use it to connect, engage and gain valuable feedback from the students. Through these clubs the faculty shall establish processes that control the publishing and monitoring of their content online & globally.

HOW TO HANDLE ANNOYING SOCIAL MEDIA USERS.

We all have different objectives for being on social media; we create and share a variety of content with our communities on social media. As we do all this we engage, respond to and interact with other social media users. Our activities can build or kill our personal brands, affects us and others as well as influence others depending on the authority, credibility and reliability of the content we post. All the above results into habits and behaviours online, with some of us using social media for the wrong reasons such as using these platforms as a dating site, to stalk people, spy on others, con people, abductors, thugs and push content or engage in activities that aren’t good for the society. These people end up being very annoying to others as their selfish tendencies that do not resonate with their communities and audiences.

Here’s five ways you can handle annoying social media users;

1.  Give feedback.

We all have this friend or follower who tags you on every post or tweet which is very annoying especially because most of the content therein is irrelevant to you, boring or doesn’t concern or require your feedback. We also have the stalkers, cyber bullies, friends or strangers who always for your help, the ticks who sap away your energy by posting negative content etc. The best thing to do to such an active social media user is to educate them on how to handle their social media presence in a professional way. Give them feedback in a nice way.  If someone uses social media as a billboard teach them the importance of not just talking about themselves and their companies because they end up looking so selfish and mean. If someone is posting inflammatory content that annoys and angers you, ask them to stop creating and sharing such content.

2.  Ignore them.

They say silence is golden!  You don’t have to be involved in every campaign on Twitter. Eg #LetNyakundiTweet,  #KOTagainstMpigs etc. You choose activities that you engage in on social media. This doesn’t help much because you have and will keep consuming such content that doesn’t add any value to you or your line of work. Ignoring such people may not help much as they might keep repeating the same mistakes however a smart social media user should understand his community well to know what kind of content that engages them and at what time. Your mother was right when she said that people will judge you by the company you keep! Don’t hang out with idiots on social media and expect to earn the respect of people.  For me to know about what’s happening where and when I keep a very resource network both online and offline. Could be as simple as following someone on twitter; they post events, vacancies or opportunities available, useful links, and discuss relevant issues. That’s how I manage to be in the loop. The friends you also hang out with determine what we get to know, so connect with the right people. Finally the relationship has to be mutual. So as we grow older, mature up and get jobs, get married, etc our tastes change, objectives too and most important we also change our set of friends and establish new tighter bonds with new people so once in a while you will have a set of friends from your past when say you were in campus, who you used to do crazy stuff with and they still do it and think you should join them ! So keep them on your list but ignore them, if they become too much then let’s get to no.3.

3.     Un friend, un-follow, unlike, block.

This is simple and yet very effective. If a social media user continually publishes content that doesn’t educate, entertain, inform or inspire or add value to your life the best thing to do is to leave. If a person loses 500 followers in a day due to content they’ve published trust me they will desist in creating and sharing such content! If such habits persist, then more will leave and thus such tweeps end up with smaller communities and hence smaller audiences reach. If you are spamming the Internet, you need to be aware that it won’t help you and you’ll end up losing people. Be warned that too much of push marketing or self promotion doesn’t help push or realize your agenda; people hate billboards! Finally, focus on creating buzz worthy posts that people will be more likely to send it to their friends.  After all, social media is all about creating a network. If you are connected to chronic complainers who whine about everything, then unfriend them because you don’t need a dose of negative energy everyday!  I don’t have to explain much here, if someone is harassing you online, block them, threatening you? Block them, stalking you? Name and shame them! Be bold, it’s your life and you deserve the best out of it!

4.      Report or raise awareness.

This is a bit dangerous as it creates more awareness on such users or communities which may lead to a bigger audience as a result of the publicity. That’s how pages with porn content get to grow as we tend to talk about them as we urge others not to join. The result is, more people know of their existence and a good percentage end up joining such communities. However reporting such communities (blogs, pages and handles) to authorities or to company helps as they will be deleted. If someone is publishing content that is defamatory, full of propaganda, hate and lies then they can be sued at a court of law. Robert Alai was released on bond, Itumbi has spent time behind bars for issues relating to hacking websites.   If you notice someone impersonating someone on Facebook or Twitter, raise alert and pass on the information to friends and other social media users. Same case applies to cyber bullies, conmen or women on social media, admins of pages that publish hate content and people that basically engage in unethical ways that don’t promote the values of a good society. If you choose to raise awareness do let such people know how they can put social media into a better use to make a return on the time and money they spend online through engaging in economically beneficial activities online. Give alternatives!

5.      Use #SocialPRO

We came up with a hashtag to help the world learn from each other on a few aspects & disciplines of social media to increase our effectiveness and realize the full benefits from these platforms.  Besides that we you can use the hashtag to sensitize and promote responsible and ethical interactions and engagement on social media. Start using #SocialPRO to share social media tips, information, links with content that deepens the understanding of social media. Give #SocialPRO for those doing a good job on social media. Guys who clearly understand and put social media for the good of the society, those who respond in real time and brands that give you amazing customer experience on Twitter! Do the same for those who share useful links with you and share useful information. Meanwhile if you liked this article you can tweet or share this link on your Facebook account & pages you administrate. Be a #SocialPRO; pass it on to your friends and followers.

Social Media For Universities; What’s in it for them?

How Social Media Can Enhance Learning In Higher Education

Social media is transforming the way the world does business, the platforms provide a great way to connect online, share information, gain valuable feedback, and build relationships as well as network. Today the implications are huge and the prizes are enormous for those businesses & individuals who handle it right. Let’s face it; social media is here to stay, it’s not a fad neither a ‘thing’ for teenagers anymore!

However we haven’t seen local universities embrace social media and integrate it to teaching leave alone introduce units that tackle various disciplines of this new media. At Social Edge Africa we are very passionate about changing and making learning more fun in universities through SocialPRO clubs that we launched on the 25th of October 2012 at the University of Nairobi.

With the growth of social media usage, it is a fact that students check their Facebook and twitter accounts more often than before.

Universities need to recognize the opportunities in social media especially when it comes to the use of social networking sites. Our universities will gain more access to audiences (students, faculty, alumni, support staff etc) to share content or information through social media, something which would cost a lot more in the past.

This will change how students interact and engage with  members of the faculty, give feedback on what they are taught, ask questions and help lecturers share content (research findings, assignments, useful links, class notes and other relevant educational materials) across the various platforms. If members of faculty especially embrace and use social media to share content with the students, that will make learning more fun as content can be posted in creative formats that are consumable on mobile hence improve learning as they will not only understand but make sense of what they are being taught. It enhances universities to provide more information to the students, inspiring them to develop ideas, enhancing collaboration and therefore making them more innovative.

It will be possible for students to come together, discuss and interact and that takes learning out of the class room thus creates more opportunities to learning and teaching by simply harnessing the power of social media.

Students should no longer only use social media for managing their social life and expressing their identity but also use it as a platform where they can get more information on their areas of learning, share innovative ideas with other students from different universities, get to know what they think of the idea, ask for some advice on how that can be utilized and maybe apply the idea when the chance brings itself to light. That way, our students will be shaping the future of Kenya!

The growing use of social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter offer great educational opportunities. Lecturers and students should extend their communication outside the classroom. A dialogue between a lecturer and students can help students get immediate solutions to their education related queries instant rather than wait for the lecturer to be available another day for them to get their answers.

In the social networking sites, students can form education-oriented groups and put good use of social media to extend their informational and educational outreach rather than form ‘mchongowano’ groups to expose them to a full world of discovery on various topics outside the units or course one is pursuing.

There is so much potential in our social networks towards education as these platforms help students to work collaboratively across universities thus enhance sharing of course content, ideas, information and opportunities online.

Social media has the advantage of ease of access, portability of technology, simplicity, and freedom of speech and expression. By the use of social networking sites, students can reach their career goals faster and more easily than now. It will also educate students who have no idea or know very little concerning a particular field through the fact that they are interested in a certain subject in the field of learning. Some students are already using social media to improve their educational skills through activities like blogging.

We should thus urge or inspire students to be content creators online not just consuming and tapping into other people’s minds and findings.

Universities can also use social media to promote specific events and get students to participate as guests, volunteer time in planning and assist in some way as this helps them equip themselves with more skills and network. 

With social media the university community can engage, participate and follow an event as its happening. Live video streaming can be done inexpensively these days, if that’s technical, video footage can be edited and posted on the university site and shared across platforms, better still uploaded on YouTube or follow the event trough a common hashtag?

Through social media, universities can notify their students on latest developments, new hires, major events (partnerships, affiliations, conferences, and graduation), emergencies and tragedies easily and faster with a tweet and a Facebook post or message.

Universities should embrace a ‘less stuff, more content’ strategy. Days are coming when we will need textbooks less. Most of the content will be shared online for the students to easily access them.

Universities could make sure that they have a centralized Twitter and Facebook account that broadly covers the institutions, but particularly for larger schools, breaking up news feeds into smaller accounts for say, the business school and the law school, promotes allegiance and engages a more targeted audience.

Social media too provides universities with effective ways and opportunities for alumni networks to strengthen the bonds between the alumni and former institution, sporting club, college, university, and soforth.  Twitter and LinkedIn for example connects people across fields and businesses, making networking easier for everyone involved. So for alumni who might want to connect with others from their university for career or personal purposes, Twitter acts as a great connector.

It will be known how best this works or if it works by trying it out in our universities and letting the students say how best it works for them.

Did you like this post? If so please follow us on Twitter @SocialPROclubs & share this post with your friends. Thanks!

 

10 Tips For Brands Using Social Media For Customer Service.

10 Tips For Brands Using Social Media For Customer Service..

10 Tips For Brands Using Social Media For Customer Service.

What social media managers need to know.

Social networking has become integral to the lives of many and to brands social media is just another way to talk to, and engage with their customers. To zoom in Kenya users of social media represent the most influential and economically able section of the population. This number continues to grow especially as access to the Internet’s tool of choice, the mobile phone, makes astronomical inroads even in areas considered remote. Ninety five percent of the Generation Y (which form the bulk of consumers)  are members of a social network being their preferred media interaction. This completely changes the when, where and how brands need to connect and interact with this generation. Customer service is just one area where brands are really starting to take advantage of the online channel, given the large array of social tools now available to help them deliver great service. So here are a few tips you could apply in your business if you use social media for customer service

.

1. 1.      Don’t promise what you can’t deliver

This happens mostly when a brand has hired an agency/ person to external to the organization to manage their social media presence. Should you outsource the managing of your presence please ensure the people handling the brand understand your business well. Send them updates in real time to ensure they understand exactly what you’re up to. During campaigns, launches and events ensure your digital team is in sync with what the experiential, PR and media agencies handling your brand are doing. Ensure your business too has the technical capability to deliver what it promises.

1. 2.      Give Timelines

On Twitter I get replies that sound automated such as “we apologize for the inconvenience and someone is going to get in touch with you shortly” Duh! I want the problem fixed now! Shortly could mean hours, days or weeks to some companies!  When responding to complaints kindly give timelines, avoid words like “soonest” ASAP or shortly; give specific timelines. Say in an hour, by 4 pm, by close of business today etc. Should it be a problem that requires dispatching a team of technicians or engineers; do advice the customer accordingly.

1. 3.      Integrate social media across the whole business

Social media should be viewed more broadly across a business and form part of an organization’s structure. Based on the different kinds of inquiries and complaints that you get from the varied users/publics on social media, it’s important to ensure that every department has someone to respond to certain issues that may require specialized attention. The best people to respond to a sales question on twitter are members of the sales team; likewise a customer service question on a help forum should be handled by someone from the customer services team.

1. 4.      Read & Respond

There’s a certain tendency to ignore certain inquiries, could be overlooked erroneously or otherwise. This sends a signal out there that the brand is unfriendly, busy to handle my inquiry or unsocial and uncaring. Every page has that group/people who just hate the brand, if your feel they are becoming a nuisance you may block them however at the beginning seek to win over their loyalty by handling their issues promptly. Some could be paid, may be attention seekers or are just serial complainers.  

1. 5.      Make use of the responses

To avoid repeat questions in the future, frequent reviews of the types of questions received enables a brand to identify opportunities to develop its content; i.e. if lots of customers keep asking a specific question, it’s likely the brand isn’t sufficiently explaining, or promoting the answer to that question across its communications channels. Should such issues arise, you may consider using print and TV media for PR to clear out the issue, add more information on your site or air a commercial specifically to communicate/respond to certain issues that show most prevalence.

1. 6.      Provide useful links with information on your website

Once in a while it’s good to share links on your site that have information that could help solve the customer inquiry or complaints. This helps drive customers to the most up-to-date source of information (your website). Tracking these links will help marketers track just how many people are using the content to help answer their own questions.

1. 7.      Be prepared for a greater volume of questions

People asking on any platform (twitter especially) expect an almost instant response. Brands need to be sure they can deal with (and answer) any increase in the volume of questions. For a mobile operator you need a robust team on social to handle the volume of complaints that come in. Should you anticipate an outage/breakdown in your service, notify your customers/followers and give timelines when you expect the service to be up again. If you decide to use your social media presence to handle customer service kindly ensure it is well staffed by people who understand your product or service.

1. 8.      Have a strategy to deal with complaints and issues

Think about how the brand will deal with complaints in an open forum. There needs to be a balance between what a brand does publicly to be seen to be dealing with a customer’s complaint, and taking the complaint offline to deal with it in full. A tool like ChittyChat on Twitter gives you a chance to engage in a conversation in “private,” allowing you to communicate directly with them instead of using “mentions”. Rather than engaging the angry customer publicly you may DM or inbox them instead. You may also ask for their number so that you take the discussion completely offline. You may also engage the services of your brand loyal/happy customers to help you handle the ‘heat’ and hate by responding behind the scenes and managing your brand reputation.

1. 9.      Be consistent

The way a brand responds to customers will be noticed so offer consistent help to similar problems. It is important to train your customer care staff on handling customer complaints appropriately. Being consistent helps other users learn and help the brand build trust with its customers.

10. Be careful of setting a precedent

When dealing with a complaint, does your brand really want to offer a refund on a product in full view of thousands of people on facebook or on Twitter? Do you have a money back programme for customers that aren’t satisfied with the service they received or product they bought? The response you give to complaints in the public domain may set a precedent. Kindly ensure that you don’t create a loophole that people may take advantage. Providing official answers will help resolve more customer queries and reduce the number of ‘me too’ kind of questions.