The power of social media mentions. Why and how?

“Archie saved my bacon… in a parallel dimension where bacon is my laptop and the ability to enjoy my favorite internet things”

“Amazing app and also a fantastic support center. Special thanks to Dwayne for helping me and guiding me for more than 1 hour. Bless you All”

“This service shows that people will never be replaced by bots! I love talking to a person when I have questions!”

There are many ways towards creating a good social image for your product – working with influencers on different platforms, helping people in need, preparing PR campaigns. I would like to talk about the sometimes forgotten method that is incredibly powerful – social media mentions written by your customers.

I would like to share my experience in this field with you in 4 ways that can help you improve your customer advocacy and service image on social media.

Quality over quantity. The first thing my colleague and I learned since the beginning of the customer advocacy project. It is a considerable risk to start getting way too many mentions way too quickly. If you only look for higher numbers, your mentions begin looking more like bot-generated messages than honest reviews about your customer’s experience. To avoid this, quality of the mention should be your first and most important goal, even if it comes at the cost of high mention numbers – fewer, but honest reviews will always be brighter and more valuable than the plain comment: “Fast service, thanks”.

Be a facilitator. Remember, your Customer Success team members usually initiate those mentions. Don’t forget that your team members are the stars of this show, going the extra mile. Giving them specific and detailed steps that have to be followed is not the right approach. This way will never allow them to show their actual power of the performance. Instead, create an environment where they can freely share ideas and work on new strategies. The team leader’s mission is to remind the goal, yet not to restrict from experimenting. Experimentation is the key to success here, and if you create a place where everyone can do that – mentions will start flowing in no time.

Be an authentic idea factory. We are focusing on quality and the team can experiment towards reaching the goal. What’s next? That is simple – not to settle with what you have. Always be open to new ideas – maybe start expanding to new social platforms? Why not! We have so many social media platforms these days, so being visible on as many of them as possible sounds great. Preparing workshops to further improve the communication skills of your team? Yep, that will also help you reach your end goal. Of course, some social platforms may not fit the image that your product is going for, but if you don’t consider anything new, your social image will not be going anywhere either. Let’s not forget, social media is a rapidly growing field and you have to grow with it if you wish to stay in the loop.

Don’t forget motivation. Some may say that social mentions are already motivating people. Sure, the nice review is all about the agent’s extra performance, but it is definitely not enough. If you wish your team to stay motivated to work towards those mentions and improve your social image, YOU have to be one praising them as much as the customer. Don’t forget to remind them that it is their achievement, share notable mentions with the whole team, show that you care for what they are doing. Public recognition will pay you back with superb performance and drive to reach for the stars!