Customer Support: The Future is Social Media

The future of social media is that it will continue to evolve

The last few years have seen a pretty interesting shift occurring in both the world of social media and customer support. Traditional customer support outlets like the telephone and to some extent, even email are slowly becoming antiquated as social media’s prevalence and rapidly expanding technology continue to permeate our day to day lives. Every day, thousands of new users are creating Facebook profiles and Twitter accounts, many of which are new and established businesses who hope to reach more consumers through social media’s vast demographic pool. But unlike before, when these companies were strictly using these platforms for branding, marketing and the all-important amassing of followers, businesses are now turning to these social portals for their customer support services.


Social media offers a unique twist on the customer support game in that it allows both the consumer and the business to collaborate in real time. Consumers can ask the questions they need and get the answers they want, instantly and with a program that they are already familiar with. Below are some of the latest statistics gathered over the last year that show just how big of an impact social sharing is having on customer support.

Note: All of the information here has been taken from the following sites- maritzresearch.com, mediabistro.com businesswire.com, rightnow.com, americanexpress.com, socialmediatoday.com, facebook.com, CIA Factbook, MSNBC.com

46 million people check their social media each day

250 million tweets are created on Twitter each day

Facebook has over 1.06 billion users who are active on a month to month basis

50% of consumers who voice a complaint or concern give a businesses about a week before they move on and find another company who is capable of answering questions more quickly

Consumers are hesitant to trust claims through advertisements but are 4x more likely to trust the claims made by their peers over social media

One million people view customer service related tweets on a weekly bases

38 million Americans stated that their purchasing behavior is based on things they have seen on social media, shockingly, this number has risen 14% in the last six months (that’s 5,320,000 people!)

81% of small businesses use social media (a 9% increase from the beginning of 2012)

Small businesses are pretty equal when responding to both negative and positive comments (about 60% from both sides)

2012 statistics showed that customers who voiced a complaint via twitter had a 1/3 chance of having their problem answered by a representative of the business

Out of all the people who voiced a concern over social media 3 out of four were happy with their response (across all spectrum of complaints or inquiries)

Consumers who use social media tell about 43 people of their positive experience (through status updates, word of mouth or Twitter) versus consumers who don’t use social media who only tell about nine

47% of consumers want to talk/share/tweet about their interaction from a company over social media

It’s clear that social media is the way of the future. If you own a business and are currently not active on any social platform, consider doing so. Not only will you have the option for free advertisement, you are also given one of the most powerful tools of any businesses owner, the ability to interact and engage with your company’s top commodity, the consumer.

About the author: Patrick Strahan is an IT professional and freelance blogger. He writes about such things as the latest help desk software on the market. When he's not busy blogging or responding to dozens of work orders, Patrick finds time to ski and to write the next great graphic novel