Social Media Commerce For Dummies

Chapter 13

Handling Customer Service without Picking Up the Phone (Well, Almost)

In This Chapter

Handling customer service online

Excelling at customer service

Building a community of customers

I wrote a book on online customer service more than a year ago, when big business was just beginning to reach out to their customers through social media. Big brands have big budgets to spend trying out new ways of reaching their customers. Social media customer service doesn’t require a huge budget. In this way, it is a level playing field where small business can successfully compete head-to-head with brands.

One of the ways small businesses can improve their customer service and overall bottom line is to study the new media trends and see what is working. You can conduct community outreach on a far smaller scale without having to staff a department.

This chapter introduces you to new ways to handle your customer service issues efficiently and transparently online.

Handling Customer Service Issues Online

When customers know that they can communicate directly with a business on social media, they may connect with them for any number of reasons. But as soon as they realize that a customer ...