Many consumers look to Facebook for information about businesses, but many of those businesses see a Facebook page as secondary to their other marketing efforts. When customers log onto Facebook for information about your business or to talk to you directly, they can feel ignored or overlooked when they don't find what they're looking for.
The lines of communication opened by social media need to be managed. Failure to respond quickly and engage consumers through this channel can result in negative brand experiences and lost conversions. Facebook for businesses is an important customer service tool — and that's the impetus behind new messaging features the social media giant has built in to the platform.
As Marketing Land reports, Facebook unveiled a new messaging platform for businesses earlier this year to help businesses with message management, communication and customer satisfaction. Here are some of the best ways to enhance social media management and customer experience on your Facebook page.
Build Your Brand With Badges
Response times through Facebook for businesses has been perilously slow, with more than 85 percent of responses to customers failing to come within 72 hours. Three days is a long time in any circumstance, but it's a century on social media, where consumers expect quick feedback and fast results.
Brands working toward very expedient messaging can seek the reward of a new badge feature administered by Facebook that lets consumers know your business page is "very responsive" to messages. Keeping that badge's presence on your Facebook page lets customers know instantly that their messages to you will be heard and responded to — and will motivate you and your employees to stay on the ball.
Improve Response Time
Businesses have great financial incentive to keep response times low. In the long time that can pass between a consumer sending a message and receiving a reply, that individual may opt to do business with a competitor, either because they're tired of waiting or because another brand satisfied their needs faster.
Your business should be aiming for a response time within an hour. That may sound daunting, but having dedicated personnel with social as part of their job responsibilities can help you meet this goal. That may not be achievable for every company, but Facebook's improved messaging interface will help you speed things up. Your Facebook inbox now functions more like email, with the ability to flag important messages, mark them as read or unread, archive conversations, and remove spam. Keeping yourself organized means you can respond to newer messages faster, and keep on top of vital customer conversations.
Save Replies to Improve Efficiency
One of the niftiest features of Facebook's messaging platform is an option to save common replies. If one customer has a particular question about your services, it's likely that others will have the same question. Saved replies cut down on the time required to manage social media communications.
Some owners are reluctant to devote the time to using private messaging on Facebook for businesses, but as more consumers turn to social for answers, it's time to make it more of a priority.
