Your customers are talking about you online whether you like it or not. The question is, what are you going to do about it? Ignoring customer feedback that’s being shared on social media and other online channels is a huge mistake. In fact, it can lead to some pretty serious negative consequences for your business.
That’s why it’s important to use media monitoring insights to improve your customer service strategy. In this blog post, we’ll discuss how you can use those insights to make sure your customers are happy and satisfied with the services they receive from your company.
What is media monitoring and why is it important for customer service
Media monitoring is the process of tracking what is being said about your company or brand online. It’s important for customer service because if you’re not aware of what people are saying, you can’t address their concerns.
Monitoring social media and other online platforms is one way to get a quick snapshot of customer sentiment. This feedback can help you identify PR problems or areas where customers are unhappy. It can also help you track positive news and shout it from the rooftops (or, rather, social media).
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The benefits of media monitoring for customer service teams
#1 Media monitoring insights make a valuable source of data
Media monitoring provides a valuable resource for customer service teams, as it allows them to track and respond to any mention of their company or product online. This data can be used to improve customer service strategies, including the development of new policies and procedures. By monitoring social media channels, companies can see complaints as they happen and address them before they become bigger problems.
#2 Identifying bottlenecks and problems
By tracking social media platforms, news outlets, review sites, and forums, customer service teams can identify and address any negative sentiment before it spirals out of control. This can help to prevent customer dissatisfaction from spreading and damaging the company’s reputation. Teams can use this information to develop solutions that will improve the customer experience.
#3 One of the best ways of receiving feedback
One of the best ways to receive feedback is from customers themselves. However, this can be difficult to do if the company doesn’t have a social media presence. By monitoring social media and other online platforms, companies can see what customers are saying about them even if they’re not talking directly to the company. This can help customer service teams identify areas where they need to improve and make changes accordingly, but also get new ideas on board.
#4 Better understanding of customers and potential customers
By analyzing data from all forms of media, customer service teams can better understand what customers want and need from them. This information can help to shape future products and services, as well as improve current offerings. Additionally, it can also be used to target potential customers with relevant content that may persuade them to do business with the company.
#5 Increasing and protecting brand awareness
Lastly, media monitoring helps companies protect their brand reputation by identifying any potential crises before they happen. By being proactive and addressing any negative sentiment quickly, companies can prevent these crises from doing long-term damage to their image.
Tips and tricks for getting the most out of media monitoring
Step 1: Start by creating a list of keywords that are relevant to your business
Customer service teams should start by creating a list of keywords that are relevant to their business. These keywords can be used to track mentions of the company or brand online. How to find them? You can e.g. check your customer service software and look for the keywords that occur in the conversations with your clients the most.
Step 2: Set up alerts for those keywords
Once you have your list of keywords, set up alerts so that you can receive notifications whenever they’re mentioned online. This will allow you to react quickly to any potential PR problems. If you have just one keyword to track, this probably can be done manually, to some point. However, if you have more keywords to follow, then maybe…
Step 3: Use media monitoring software
If there’s quite a volume of keywords and mentions to follow, don’t hesitate to try tools to facilitate the process. Media monitoring software can help you track all of your company’s social media channels in one place. This makes it easier to identify any complaints or negative sentiment about the company. You can check the Agility PR solution for media monitoring, for example.
Step 4: Monitor news outlets and review sites
In addition to social media, customer service teams should also monitor news outlets and review sites for any mention of the company. This will help them stay on top of any potential PR crises.
Step 5: Monitor forums and discussion boards
Finally, customer service teams should also monitor forums and discussion boards where customers may discuss their experiences with the company or product. This can give you a good idea of what customers are happy (or unhappy) with.
Step 6: Use the data to improve your marketing strategy
The data gleaned from media monitoring can also be used to improve your marketing strategy. For example, you can use it to target potential customers with relevant content that may persuade them to do business with the company. Everyone in your company wins with media monitoring!
Over to you
Media monitoring can be a great way for customer service teams to improve their interactions with customers. The amount of data that’s available can be overwhelming, but by following the tips outlined in this post, customer service teams can get the most out of it. Avoiding media monitoring in your customer support strategy would be nothing but missing a boat – so how about giving it a go straight away?
