Social Caring: It’s Not Your Father’s Care

by | Feb 4, 2013

bigstock-An-angry-mob-of-people-swears--40556050You know you’re getting older when you hear the term social care and think taking care of mom or dad.

In today’s digital world, the term has come to mean customer service through social media.

  • Customer service has moved beyond call centers
  • And into a world of Tweets and posts

Scary stuff for a business stuck in traditional channels of customer service.

Can you afford to ignore social care?

Do You Care?

NM Incite, a provider of social media software, revealed in its U.S. State of the Media: The Social Media Report 2012 that there’s a whole lot of social caring going on.

  • Nearly half (47%) of U.S. consumers use social media to deliver feedback/questions to businesses
  • One in three social media users prefer using social media over traditional channels
  • The majority (70%) report using social care monthly – 21% use it weekly

The report also shares social care preference by age group. You’re probably not surprised by the results; however, do you know if the results reflect your customers’ patterns?

 

Social Care by Age Group-web

 

Care to Refer?

NM Incite drilled even deeper into social care with its State of Social Customer Service, 2012 report.

You may think one result is a Duh response, but it does get your attention.

71% of consumers who experienced great social care are likely to recommend a brand based on their most recent experience

 

That last phrase – most recent experience – is important.

  • You’re only as good as your last review
  • Unless you have serious credibility established with a customer

However, I wouldn’t recommend asking for a referral on the heels of a misstep.

Care to Explain

Social care is traditional customer care on steroids.

  • The feedback is instant
  • The feedback is shared
  • The feedback influences

How your business responds delivers a critical message to your markets. Especially when there is no response.

Wouldn’t you prefer a positive response?

How about you?

Has your business experienced the power of social care? Share your stories in Comments.

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BigStock Photo Credit

(BigStock images also used in graph)

 

 

4 Comments

  1. Darnell Jackson

    Last year when I had some issues with my domain I sent a tweet to godaddy and they freaking fixed my domain.

    I was shocked.

    Then they followed me.

    It turned out to be the only reason why I didn’t cancel their @ss like everyone else did for being on the wrong side of Internet Censorship.

    Reply
    • Cathy

      Great example, Darnell.

      If my boomer brain had thought of it, I had a similar experience with Hostgator Support. They quickly responded, fixed the problem & followed me on Twitter.

      But, you figure these businesses better understand the power of social media – although I know that’s not always the case.

      Thanks for stopping by and providing a real-world example, Darnell.

      Reply
  2. Anne Wayman

    Yeah, I’ve gotten things fixed quicker with twitter than with a phone call… amazing actually. Not sure what to think about it, but I will use it just exactly as long as it works.

    Reply
    • Cathy

      I guess it’s Twitter’s very public stage, Anne. Businesses figure calls to customer service aren’t being monitored by the world. At least that would be my guess. Pretty crazy to me, just the same.

      Reply

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