There’s a lot of business advice centered around leveraging social media. Every day we read about successful companies harnessing the power of social and how it can boost engagement and trust. Of course, a strong content strategy is a large part of that success —  your content, visuals, and a strong sense of your brand are all hallmarks of a powerful social media presence. But to really bring your brand to the next level, you need to have strong organic growth. Do that by creating a community and building out your social support presence.

Social customer support is incredibly important yet often overlooked. As companies continue to crowd the social media space, this is an area in which brands can differentiate themselves. Here are four reasons that underscore the importance of social customer support.

It builds trust. The main reason social customer service is so important is that it creates a sense of trust in your audience, which is absolutely vital for brands. Social customer service gives people a clear method of contact, a paper trail they can follow and most importantly, it shows (sometimes in a public way) that you take their concerns seriously. A social media presence for support shows users that you evolve with them and gives them more reason to believe in your brand. That carries over into purchasing habits and brand loyalty. For example, a recent Twitter study found that customers who receive responses from brands on that channel are willing to spend anywhere between 3% and 20% more on their products in the future. It’s a short-term investment that yields long-term results.

It demonstrates empathy. Who doesn’t enjoy interacting with a human being offering a clear voice and personality (as opposed to bland corporate promo-speak)? Effective social customer service allows you to give a sense of humanity to your brand and, when necessary, demonstrate that you understand your customers’ pain points and are actively trying to resolve them. Similar to how intelligent, focused content moderation can transform a brand, effective social customer service proves to the customer that you understand them, you hear them, and are ready to get it right.

It improves your efficiency. Social customer service is often overlooked for more traditional support channels like email and phone. But consider the amount of data you can collect while still providing efficient service; that information can help you better understand your customer concerns. Use it to analyze the range of issues raised by customers, the average response times, and the solutions offered. Knowing that will help you refine your support offerings to ensure problems are solved even more quickly and efficiently.

It yields higher engagement. Ultimately, the goal of having a social media strategy in place is to get organic growth and engagement. By using this channel to provide support, you’re resolving customer issues while boosting engagement. It’s an effective way to demonstrate that your brand cares about its customers, actively finds solutions for issues, and builds a sense of community among your users.

It’s no easy feat, but the results are worth it. A recent study by Aberdeen found that companies with a well-designed customer service approach had a retention rate of 92%, a rate that’s difficult to achieve without the social customer service edge.

Trust, empathy, efficiency, engagement — these are all bedrocks of a strong social media strategy that gets you visible results. Using social customer service as a tool in your overall strategy is a powerful way to build out your digital presence and establish your brand. When executed correctly, it has the power to transform brands and bring in new audiences.

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