The Twitter Book

Offer solid customer support

As we discuss earlier in this chapter, whether you set up your account with customer service in mind, you'll likely get such inquiries. The cool thing about Twitter is that you can reply in public, demonstrating your company's responsiveness. Even better, if one person asks a question, it's likely a bunch of people have the same issue, so answering publicly can help a lot of folks at once. (Of course, some inquiries are specialized; take those to DM.)

In addition to direct questions you get, you can keep an eye on Twitter search (see Chapter 2) and respond to complaints about your company, as shown here. If you approach people like this, do so gently; some will be pleased to hear from you, others may find it a bit creepy.

If your company has a very high volume of customer service messages, consider opening an account or several just for customer service. @ComcastCares is the gold standard for this model.

twitter tip

Earlier in this chapter, we talk about the importance of making sure that the person or people running your Twitter account are integrated with your customer service arm. Otherwise, you can easily create more steps for customers who are trying to resolve problems.