Month: December 2023

Businesses must go beyond simply addressing problems promptly. They must provide customers with the tailored service they have come to expect from other platforms, similar to how a barista at your local coffee shop greets you with “the usual?” upon your arrival.

In the initial stages of social media customer support, quickness was the key measure of success. As of 2022, a survey found that 77% of customers anticipate a response from companies within a day, while 13% expect a reply within minutes, as per The Sprout Social Index™. The most recent Index report indicates that while consumers still value fast responses, they are increasingly prioritizing high-quality customer service, with 70% wanting businesses to offer tailored responses to their service inquiries.

However, organizational barriers, inadequate comprehension of the significance of social customer support, and cumbersome technology infrastructure impede companies from providing top-tier service. Executives who neglect to address these problems risk losing revenue and jeopardizing their customers’ allegiance.

Customers’ expectations for your service include both excellence and promptness.

In a world where social DMs have become a form of texting in their own right, brands replying quickly to customers is table stakes. Consumers want more than a fast response, they want the right response. One that means they don’t have to reach out again or deal with another issue a few weeks later. They want to feel like their problem is your first priority.

Take this stat from our latest Index report: A majority of consumers (76%) place equal value on brands that respond quickly to customer needs and brands that prioritize customer support.

Regrettably, a majority of customers feel that they are not receiving top-notch service. A study by Zendesk CX Trends Research reveals that 62% of customers think companies could improve their efforts in offering tailored services. With just 30% of companies having established processes and tools for proactive customer engagement on social media, this lack of satisfaction is not unexpected.

But that doesn’t mean consumers are making concessions or lowering their standards. The same Zendesk report highlighted that 70% of consumers expect anyone they interact with to have full context surrounding their customer service inquiries. What good is meeting your response time service-level agreements (SLAs) if you’re not actually resolving customers’ issues or leaving a mediocre impression?

Read more about how top brands provide exceptional customer service and support.

Typical obstacles to providing top-notch customer support

Though 88% of business leaders agree social media is a critical tool in providing customer care and service, there are still knowledge gaps that prevent teams from accessing the tools and resources they need, and gaining stakeholder buy-in.

Here’s how social media marketers and care teams describe their greatest challenges to delivering exceptional customer care and experiences:

The expectation to constantly be available and responsive.

According to a Q3 2023 Sprout Pulse Survey, 63% of customer care professionals said a high volume of customer care requests is their most prominent obstacle. As one member of The Arboretum, Sprout’s online community for social professionals, put it, “The most significant challenge I face when managing customer care on social media is the expectation to be available to answer questions 24/7. Plus, pressure to make sure each answer is 100% correct and can’t be misinterpreted in any way that could reflect poorly on the business.”

Another added, “Social platforms have become essential for customer support. However, it can quickly become overwhelming for businesses due to the sheer number of inquiries they receive and the expectation for quick responses from a real person.”

In an era where customers want to be able to connect with a service agent the moment they need help, it’s critical to have agents available at all hours. But without proper staffing and handoff, this can stretch social and service teams thin and lead to burnout, on top of dissatisfied customers who don’t feel prioritized or like they’re getting an authentic response.

Departmental and technological silos

When it comes to ownership of customer care in 2024, only 8% of customer service teams plan to own this function exclusively. Shared ownership requires reimagining your teams’ entire approach to collaboration. From your tech stack to your internal workflows, pressure test each stage of your social customer care process to find out where silos are slowing service down, and where there’s too much strain on one team.

For example, social teams are often not equipped to handle complex customer service needs, but they’re often asked to do so anyway. As one member of The Arboretum described, “A social media manager doesn’t have the resources to resolve every customer complaint. Customers use social more and more for issue resolution, but there’s a solid wall between customer care (which leverages traditional communication channels) and social media engagement.”

Many concurred that teamwork within different departments at their organization is subpar. “The reason our team struggles to deliver prompt and efficient customer service is because of the insufficient and delayed communication between departments,” stated a social media marketer.

Lack of training and education

Social customer care is a new domain, with most teams struggling to keep up with best practices. According to a Q3 2023 Sprout Pulse survey, 35% of businesses plan to hire additional agents and host additional training to improve the quality of customer interactions on social.

These shortcomings frequently stem from the perception that social customer support is a secondary responsibility, rather than a crucial aspect of the entire business. As a participant in The Arboretum observed, “Social media engagement is not perceived as a legitimate form of customer service and care. Interacting with customers and followers via comments and direct messages is not given the same level of respect or consideration as handling customer inquiries through email, phone, or face-to-face interactions.”

While social professionals and service teams understand that social customer care is key to resolving issues on channels where customers provide open, honest—and very public—feedback, internal education to other departments is needed to help others see its impact. Enable key stakeholders and senior leadership to see how the ability to interject, navigate and even control the conversation can help retain customers and build the bottom line. Ensure training and education is happening org-wide, not just for the marketing and service teams.

Not having the right tools

Numerous teams in the social and service sectors lack the necessary resources to deliver customer care that is both efficient and of high quality. Due to the fragmented technology stacks and varied communication channels, the task of providing customer care becomes akin to removing snow with a tiny spoon – it is awkward and ineffective.

Our Q3 2023 Sprout Pulse Survey reveals many organizations’ most prominent challenges stem from technology breakdowns—48% are left with manual tasks that take up significant time, 41% with gaps in available customer care intel for agents to reference when handling requests and 26% cite a lack of technological resources. The lack of investment in customer care processes and tools to actively engage on social is a major hurdle to developing a sophisticated strategy.

An Arboretum member describes how not having the right tools impedes quality: “Customers appreciate personalized responses that address their specific concerns. However, doing this effectively on social media, where conversations can be disjointed and context may be lost, can be difficult.”

The Index indicates that half of marketers intend to adopt sophisticated social media management tools to enhance workflow productivity, indicating that leaders recognize the importance of technological investments in creating a unified customer experience. An increasing number of brands are recognizing the value of social media management software, not only for scheduling posts and analyzing data, but also as the main platform for managing social customer service.

How to provide high quality customer service, fast

What it takes to deliver memorable and positive customer experiences is changing. As customer expectations evolve, so too should the best practices your teams follow and the processes and tools you use.

These are practical measures to tackle obstacles and connect with customers at their current position.

Use AI and automation for support

Social care teams are hesitant to use AI, fearful that it could damage the relationships they’ve built with customers and make interactions seem less human. Nearly half of marketers (49%) say their top concern in regards to AI is job displacement or reduced human involvement in social media management, according to the Index.

The truth of the matter is that by intelligently utilizing AI to manage tasks such as responding to common customer queries, both marketers and service representatives will have the opportunity to dedicate more time to their most significant work. The Index reveals that 81% of marketers have already experienced a positive impact on their work due to AI, with benefits such as more time for creative pursuits (78%) and improved efficiency (73%). Additionally, 47% of marketers plan to start using AI in 2024 to handle basic customer questions and requests. It may seem contradictory, but the rise of new technologies can actually redistribute the time of care teams and assist them in meeting consumers’ desire for genuine interactions and human connections.

For example, in the Sprout Social platform, our Case Management solution enables your team to automatically create Cases for each social message that needs a reply—and route them to the right team or individual based on custom criteria and rules.

Every team within Sprout is provided with their own unique queue, allowing them to view all messages assigned to them and important information about each Case. Teams have the ability to access Cases through a designated pane located in the main navigation menu.

The Smart Inbox’s Case Management feature consolidates all messages from various social platforms into one unified feed. This inbox is equipped with additional functionalities that enable your team to address concerns swiftly, including AI-powered suggested responses for speedy replies, categorization tags for effective organization, and mass actions for efficient Case handling.

Here’s an example of how chatbots can be set up to help automate repetitive conversational tasks (like gathering information), resolve customer issues at a faster rate and provide 24/7 service, even when no agents are available.

Personalize the experience

Using name-only-personalization has been the extent of personalization for most of modern marketing (email, direct mail, etc). While using a customer’s name is a tried-and-true best practice, true personalization goes deeper. Consumers don’t want to be thought of as one of thousands (or millions) of people who receive the same canned response, they want to be seen as a VIP who deserves an experience that meets their unique needs.

Truly resolving customers issues starts with data, and finding meaningful data requires integrating social with other business intelligence software like your CRM. By having a centralized, 360-degree view of your customers, you will increase the quality of service you provide and break down departmental silos. This data will deliver key insights about your customers, from the first time they sent you a DM to the last time they made a purchase. Our Q3 Pulse Survey data reveals about 38% of customer care leaders indicated consolidating agent and customer data to guide business decisions was already at the top of their wishlist.

Sprout enriches your Salesforce CRM records with social data to provide a comprehensive view that enables your team to engage in real time with the right context. Notice how the sidebar is populated with Salesforce Service Cloud data in this example of an agent responding to a customer via the Smart Inbox.

Sprout’s Tableau Business Intelligence Connector takes it a step further by combining social data in an omnichannel view with other marketing data. By harnessing this intel, customer care and marketing leaders can work together to align on the business value of social customer care and elevate it into strategic planning conversations.

Use listening and social data to understand what your customers care about

Proactive customer care is the most effective. Knowing your customers’ concerns, frequent problems, and their perception of your brand will influence your customer care approach. Our Pulse Survey reveals that 23% of customer care leaders struggle with making decisions based on data, and an additional 37% are keen to implement social media management tools that enhance the significance and business influence of customer care.

By using a social media listening solution like Sprout Social, you can leverage AI to uncover critical customer insights. With Sprout’s suite of Listening tools, you can automatically sift through billions of data points to zero in on trends and key learnings you need to guide future strategy. For example, you can find out how your customers are reacting to your latest product launch through the Sentiment Analysis tool, and use that data to train your team and inform future product development.

Set a standard for exceptional customer service.

In this new generation of customer care, speed is no longer the only king. Responses don’t just need to be fast, they need to be thoughtful and tailored to an audience of one. As the volume of messages and mentions you receive rises, so too will customer expectations of your business on social. To stand out from the competition, you need to invest in the right training, processes and tools to propel your business forward.

Audit the tools and processes your organization currently uses to find gaps and redundancies. Build the case for shared ownership of customer care and access to social data. Identify the new skills you and your team need to lead a robust social care strategy. For help getting started, read the latest edition of The Sprout Social Index™, and dive into the latest data about creating customer experiences that drive business value.

The post How to balance speed and quality customer service appeared first on Sprout Social.

Good customer service is essential for any business to succeed. It is important to provide customers with a positive experience that will keep them coming back. However, providing quality customer service can often be a challenge, especially when it comes to balancing speed and quality.

Speed is an important factor when it comes to customer service. Customers expect to have their questions answered quickly and efficiently. If they have to wait too long for a response, they may become frustrated and take their business elsewhere. On the other hand, providing quality customer service is also important. Customers want to feel valued and respected, and they want to know that their concerns are being taken seriously.

The key to balancing speed and quality in customer service is to focus on efficiency. Companies should strive to provide fast, accurate responses that address the customer’s needs. This can be achieved by having well-trained customer service representatives who are knowledgeable about the company’s products and services. Additionally, having a streamlined process in place can help ensure that customer inquiries are handled quickly and effectively.

Technology can also be used to help balance speed and quality in customer service. Automated systems can be used to quickly answer common questions, freeing up customer service representatives to focus on more complex issues. Additionally, social media can be used to quickly respond to customer inquiries and provide helpful information.

Finally, companies should strive to provide personalized customer service. Customers want to feel like they are being treated as individuals, not just another number. Taking the time to get to know customers and their needs can help ensure that they receive the best possible service.

Balancing speed and quality in customer service can be a challenge, but it is essential for any business to succeed. By focusing on efficiency, utilizing technology, and providing personalized customer service, companies can ensure that their customers receive the best possible experience.

Source: sproutsocial.com

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Social media marketing professionals aren’t ninjas, gurus or wizards—but they’re also more than just managers. What was once an individual role is now enough work for a whole crew, and the list of possible social media job titles keeps growing.

The landscape of marketing is constantly changing, and it is evident that social media requires teamwork. Companies that want to fully utilize the potential of social media channels must consider the advancement of their social media team’s careers. By investing in your team now, you can increase customer acquisition, loyalty, and business growth in the future.

In this list of social media job titles and descriptions, we cover all the positions you need on your core team. We also included a round up of emerging titles forward-thinking companies are hiring for to secure a social-first competitive advantage.

• Key job titles in social media management
• 4 emerging social media marketing job titles (and what they mean)
• How to get buy-in for social media team headcount)

Core social media job titles

Social velocity affects more than just the latest fashion trends in denim. It has tangible consequences on consumer expectations, market share, and ultimately, careers in marketing.

If you have tenured social media professionals on your team, chances are their jobs have evolved far beyond whatever they were hired to do. Whether you’re looking to redistribute responsibilities with new hires or you’re just in need of a refresher, here are the essential roles you need on your social media team.

Social media manager 

Social media manager roles vary by industry and team size. For example, a social media manager at a global retail brand will have a very different day-to-day than a social media manager working at a regional insurance company.

Despite these differences, there are certain core elements that unite social media managers. In addition to strategic and creative abilities, a skilled social media manager will also counsel internal stakeholders on current best practices, emerging trends, and data analysis. These traditional skills are crucial for integrating the importance of social media within an organization.

Social media director

 If you work for a brand that has multiple franchises, locations or business units, you need a social media director.

This individual is responsible for building a vision and execution plan for how your brand shows up on social media. Their work serves to unite teams together around a cohesive strategy that creates a unique, singular brand voice across several profiles and networks. Beyond marketing, they also act as a connection point for stakeholders across sales, merchandising, customer service, research and development and more.

If this crucial position is absent, there is a risk that valuable social data will be confined to a marketing silo, leading to an inconsistent brand image in different markets.

Social media specialist

 Social media specialists are junior employees who work alongside social media managers to expand organic reach through content creation and social media monitoring efforts.

An ideal hire for this role would be someone with a demonstrated passion for the channel. Here’s what that can look like in absence of solid professional experience:

• A deep comprehension of every social media platform – including optimal practices, current trends, and typical engagement behaviors.
• Informed opinions on the current and future state of social media
• A grasp on brand marketing basics like voice and tone, design, brand personality and positioning

 Paid media specialist

Handling Meta Business Suite requires a dedicated commitment.

Just kidding—kind of. The truth is, paid social is complex across the board. It requires a keen eye for detail and the ability to adjust on the fly. Any marketing strategy that relies on a robust paid social arm needs dedicated resources to manage spend and optimization rituals, especially if you’re running ads across multiple social platforms.

An ideal paid media specialist is incredibly detail and process-oriented. No UTMs are missed on their watch, and the findings from A/B tests are always stored away for future reference.

Community manager

What distinguishes a community manager from a social media manager? A social media manager is responsible for managing a brand’s own profile strategy, whereas a community manager concentrates on interacting with audiences on various social media platforms to enhance brand loyalty and establish genuine relationships.

In the vast landscape of social media, this work can take many different shapes. A social media community manager’s day-to-day might include tasks like closed community moderation (think a private Facebook group or a Discord chat), proactive engagement duties and fan appreciation initiatives to name a few.

For example, Oatly Community Manager Paula Perez drives connection by participating in the comment sections of TikToks relevant to the coffee and food space.

This job aids in achieving Oatly’s aim to become the premier plant-based brand by engaging in pertinent discussions to develop a loyal fan base.

Influencer marketing strategist

Behind every #sponsored post is weeks—if not months—worth of contract negotiations, creative brief revisions, content feedback sessions and campaign strategy work. It takes a lot to get influencer content over the finish line. No buts about it, any company that routinely works with creators or influencers absolutely needs a dedicated influencer marketing role.

More brands are buying into the creator economy, meaning the race to court high-value influencers is on. Your ideal influencer marketing strategist will have a keen eye for identifying and cultivating relationships with individuals that meet your business’s unique criteria for brand fit and reach.

Influencer marketing requires a significant level of account management. Influencers may need varying degrees of guidance and assistance during the entire partnership process, from initial negotiations to the day the content goes live. Professionals in influencer marketing handle these interactions and work with internal team members to make sure there is strategic agreement and to optimize return on investment.

4 emerging social media marketing job titles (and what they mean)

Cutting-edge brands aren’t letting social media outpace their strategy. Instead, they’re experimenting with new titles and team structures that support evolving marketing standards. Here are four emerging social media job titles on their way to becoming industry standards:

Social media intelligence analyst

Important conversations don’t happen in a single place or platform—they span across all corners of the web. It’s the role of a social media intelligence analyst to identify and monitor the conversations that can move the needle on your brand reputation with social listening and reporting tools.

Allocating dedicated resources to finding and distributing social insights can increase the channel’s impact on your business strategy exponentially. We can’t say for certain what the future of social has in store, but our forecast says this will become a core role sooner rather than later.

Think about bringing someone on for this position if: Your basic social media positions are filled and you’re aiming to elevate your approach.

Social media engagement manager

A social media engagement manager is the architect of your brand’s overall engagement strategy, from community management all the way to social customer care. They’re responsible for implementing the tools and workflows that create better audience experiences for current and future customers alike—that can mean case routing, surprise and delight initiatives, cross-functional reporting standards and more. Think of them as the connection point between marketing and customer service teams. 

If you recognize that there is potential for improvement in your social customer care efforts, but find that taking advantage of those opportunities consistently falls by the wayside, you should think about hiring for this position.

Content producer 

Content production roles are showing up under a variety of titles—content producer, content editor, creator-in-residence or simply content creator. This is a creative role that is responsible for ideating, producing and editing platform-specific content that delights and engages online communities.

Consider hiring for this role if: You’re trying to push your brand further into the social entertainment era through innovative, authentic storytelling.

Social operations manager

This position for a digital project manager is essential for companies that want to streamline their content and resource management with one highly organized person. Depending on the company’s requirements, this role may involve managing budgets, scheduling distribution, acquiring technology, and establishing team routines. Having a social operations manager in a leadership role enables the creative and strategic members of the team to concentrate on their strengths and work as effectively as possible.

Consider hiring this role if: The number of stakeholders involved in your social strategy is starting to cause workflow hiccups.

How to get buy-in for social media team headcount

It’s always challenging to justify adding more employees, particularly when your team is already meeting its targets. With the expenses of salaries, benefits, and equipment piling up, hiring additional staff can be costly. To gain approval, marketers need to present a well-researched and data-driven plan that demonstrates the potential achievements of an expanded team.

If headcount woes are what’s standing in between your brand and a stand-out social media strategy, here’s how you can make a hiring case to your leadership team:

• Start from a solid foundation: A big part of advocating for social media teams is educating senior leaders on the nuances and needs of the channel. To lay a solid foundation for your ask, proactively share the hurdles and opportunities that arise from the shifting social landscape.
• Conduct an analysis of your competitors on social media to gain insight into how your brand compares to others in your industry. Identifying potential opportunities or areas for improvement can help justify the need for more staff.
• Highlight the urgency: Your social media presence plays a critical role in your brand safety efforts, especially given social’s growing role in customer care. As you make your case, be sure to highlight the brand reputation risks that come with under-equipping your social team.

What do social media job titles say about the future of marketing?

If you strip away the daily tasks, the job titles in social media reveal a lot about the future direction of the marketing field. Each new title offers a valuable hint that can assist you in predicting what’s on the horizon for the industry.

The marketers who keep up with the changing tides are uniquely positioned to push their businesses into their next stages of growth. Stay ahead of the trends by checking out this interactive article on future-proofing your social media team.

The post Emerging social media job titles you need to know for 2024 appeared first on Sprout Social.

The world of social media is constantly changing, and with it, the job titles associated with it. As technology advances, so do the job titles associated with social media. As we look to the future, it’s important to understand which job titles will be in demand in 2024.

One of the most in-demand job titles in 2024 will be Social Media Strategist. This role will involve creating and executing strategies to maximize a company’s reach on social media platforms. This includes creating content, managing campaigns, and optimizing performance. Social Media Strategists will need to have a deep understanding of the different platforms and how to use them to their advantage.

Another important job title in 2024 will be Social Media Manager. This role will involve managing and overseeing all aspects of a company’s social media accounts. They will be responsible for creating content, responding to comments, and engaging with followers. They will also need to have a good understanding of analytics and be able to use them to measure the success of their campaigns.

Content Creator is another job title that will be in high demand in 2024. Content Creators will be responsible for creating content for a company’s social media accounts. This could include writing blog posts, creating videos, and designing graphics. Content Creators will need to have an eye for detail and be able to create engaging content that resonates with their target audience.

Finally, Community Manager is another job title that will be in high demand in 2024. Community Managers will be responsible for managing a company’s online community. This includes moderating comments, responding to customer inquiries, and engaging with followers. They will need to have strong interpersonal skills and be able to build relationships with customers.

As technology advances, so do the job titles associated with social media. In 2024, Social Media Strategists, Social Media Managers, Content Creators, and Community Managers will be in high demand. Those who are interested in pursuing a career in social media should start preparing now by gaining experience and learning the necessary skills for these roles.

Source: sproutsocial.com

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The post The 5 key pillars of AIOps in marketing appeared first on MarTech.

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