Social media customer service has become a crucial aspect of any business.
But what exactly is outsourced social media customer service? And why are more companies choosing to go down this path?
In this article, I’ll pick through these questions and explore why outsourcing social media customer service can be a game-changer for your business.
Understanding Social Media Customer Service
Social media customer service, often referred to as “social care,” is the practice of using social media channels to provide customer support.
This can include responding to customer inquiries, resolving issues, and even engaging in proactive customer interactions to enhance brand loyalty.
And, don’t forget (!), it also involves social selling for brands.
Especially those that are e-commerce or product-based. Customer care can be deceiving because it has ‘customer’ in the title. However, as more and more consumers are using social media to discover new brands and buy online, social selling is a crucial aspect of social media customer service.
However, managing social media customer service in-house can be a challenging and resource-intensive task.
The Challenges of In-House Social Media Customer Service
Managing social media customer service in-house can be a daunting task for many businesses.
Despite the advantages of having a dedicated team on-site, several significant challenges can make this approach less effective and more stressful for employees.
Some of the most-citied reasons I’ve heard on sales calls are:
- The expectation of round-the-clock availability.
- Specialized expertise required for handling customer interactions.
- In-house social media customer service often struggles to meet the demands of today’s fast-paced social media environment.
- Social team knows social media and customer support but isn’t equipped for social selling.
Let’s look into three key obstacles that companies face when they attempt to manage social media customer service internally.
The 24/7 Conundrum
One of the most significant challenges of in-house social media customer service is the expectation of 24/7 availability.
Customers now expect instant responses, regardless of the time of day.
According to the 2023 Sprout Social Index™ , most consumers (69%) want brands to respond within 24 hours, and 16% want a response within minutes—a 3% increase from 2022.
This isn’t surprising, given that 53% of consumers say their social media usage has been higher over the last two years than the previous two years, per the same report.
This means your team needs to be ready to respond at any hour, including weekends and holidays. Most employees are not willing or able to work seven days a week, which can lead to delays in responses and frustrated customers.
Now, do I think you must be “on” 24/7? No. But I do think you need to have servicing hours seven days a week, 365 days a year.
Lack of Expertise
Social media customer service requires a unique set of skills. Digital body language is difficult. Add to that the “difficult” customers who use social media to tear down brands on the daily, and you’ve got big shoes to fill.
Your team needs to be well-versed in both customer care and social media platforms. They must be able to communicate effectively, resolve issues quickly, and maintain a positive brand image. They must have loads of empathy.
Not all employees have this expertise, which can lead to inconsistent and poor-quality customer service.
For example, we’ve seen many clients try to use the customer call center employees to manage social media customer service. However, each time this has not worked out based on a few factors:
- Call center teams are usually the lowest paid and lowest educated team members.
- These teams are already inundated with phone calls and emails geared towards support.
- Social selling and/or being proactive with social listening and customer support is too far outside of their scope.
High Turnover Rates
The fast-paced nature of social media customer service can lead to high turnover rates among employees.
Constantly hiring and training new staff can be costly and time-consuming. It can also disrupt the consistency of your customer service, leading to a negative customer experience.
A recent report on sales and marketing (2024) from Banzai succinctly says what I cannot:
With more companies focused on growing revenue from existing customers, it’s striking that only 14% of professionals in a “sales” function are in customer success (a function that has increasingly been charged with revenue expansion in recent years).”
So, not only do customer marketing roles have a high turnover rate, these roles have continuously been eliminated during years or times when the market is struggling, leaving fewer sales through customer success roles (and thereby results) available to meet demand.
Why Outsourced Social Media Customer Service is the Solution
Outsourcing social media customer service has emerged as a powerful solution for businesses aiming to provide exceptional customer support without the challenges associated with managing an in-house team.
By leveraging an outsourced vendor (like B Squared Media!), companies can enjoy cost savings, enhanced flexibility, and access to professionals who specialize in social care.
This approach, or a hybrid approach, not only ensures high-quality service but also allows businesses to scale their operations according to their needs.
Your partner should also have methods for operationalizing your customer care program, like our C.A.R.E. Method or our simple 5-step process, as seen below.
Next, let’s explore the seven key reasons why outsourcing social media customer service can be a game-changer for your business.
It’s Cost-Effective.
Outsourcing your social media customer service can be more cost-effective than managing it in-house.
As I laid out in Conversations That Connect, most full-time employees (FTE) cost more than just their salary. An employee with an annual salary of $50,000 (more on social media costs here) can cost you $60,000 – $70,000 in total benefits and taxes.
Our whole team can cost you less than one FTE. And, with a full-fledged social care and social selling program, you’re still looking at the cost of around two FTEs plus a commission rate that’s much, much smaller than traditional sales people.
By outsourcing, you can avoid the costs associated with hiring, training, and maintaining a full-time team. Instead, you can pay for the services you need when you need them.
Access to Real-World Expertise.
When you outsource your social media customer service, you gain access to a team of experts who specialize in social care.
These professionals have the skills and experience needed to provide high-quality customer service. They are also up-to-date with the latest trends and best practices in social media, ensuring your customers receive the best possible service.
Finally, they stay on top of marketing and social media trends so you don’t have to. For example, we’ve been honing our skills for hyper-personalization — a trend we see rapidly becoming the norm with customer marketing.
Scalability or ‘Right-Sizing’ Your Team.
Outsourcing allows you to scale your social media customer service up or down based on your needs.
Whether you need support during a busy season or want to expand your services to new social media platforms, an outsourced team can provide the flexibility you need.
For example, we have clients who beef up their hours leading up to, and during, the holidays. This makes a lot of sense for companies in hospitality, those that are product-based, and especially for those that are holiday-related (think: costume shop).
Improved Customer Satisfaction.
By outsourcing your social media customer service, you can ensure that your customers receive timely and professional responses.
This can lead to improved customer satisfaction and loyalty. A happy customer is more likely to become a repeat customer and recommend your brand to others.
The Role of Social Selling in Outsourced Social Media Customer Service
Social selling is an integral component of modern business strategies. With it, we see brands:
- Leveraging social media to connect with potential customers
- Build relationships
- Drive sales
When combined with outsourced social media customer service, social selling becomes even more powerful.
An outsourced team can expertly engage with customers, answer their questions, and guide them through the purchasing process, effectively turning interactions into sales opportunities.
This synergy not only enhances customer satisfaction but also boosts brand loyalty and revenue.
Let’s explore the crucial role social selling plays in outsourced social media customer service.
Driving Sales Through Social Media (Yes, Really!).
Social selling is the practice of using social media to connect with potential customers, build relationships, and ultimately drive sales.
An outsourced social media customer service team can play a crucial role in social selling by engaging with customers, answering their questions, and guiding them through the purchasing process.
For example, one of the things you’ve probably heard me preach about is simply tagging your social media conversations with ‘acquisition’ or ‘retention’ so you can quantify how many of these conversations are happening on your social media channels.
[Source: Conversations That Connect]
As an example, you can see that four of the twelve product lines for our tech client have lost of acquisition (aka “gain customers”) conversation happening on social media.
Building Brand Loyalty.
An effective social media customer service strategy can help build brand loyalty.
By providing exceptional service and engaging with customers on a personal level, you can create a positive brand image and foster long-term relationships with your customers.
Helpful hint: Use social listening and sentiment scoring as a guide to help you understand where your share of voice is growing, and where it needs a little TLC.
The example above is for one of our pet brand clients. You can see that 91% of the total conversation around their brand is positive.
Frontline teams for Sales and Marketing.
Your social media customer service team is often the frontline for both sales and marketing.
As they interact with customers daily, valuable insights are unearthed leading to valuable information around customer needs and preferences.
This information can be used to improve your products, services, and marketing strategies.
The Importance of Customer Care Experience
Customer care experience plays a pivotal role in the success of social media customer service.
Providing a personalized, empathetic approach to customer interactions can significantly enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty.
An outsourced team with extensive experience in customer care is better equipped to handle complex issues, de-escalate conflicts, and ensure that every customer feels heard and valued.
Let’s look into why having a strong customer care experience is essential for delivering top-notch social media customer service.
Enhancing the Customer Experience
Customer care experience is crucial to the success of your social media customer service strategy. I’m not sure why so many people leave it out when thinking about a holistic, omnichannel strategy!
An outsourced team with extensive customer care experience can provide the personalized and empathetic service that customers expect — including and specific to social media channels.
This can lead to higher customer satisfaction and retention rates. Not to mention a much easier time when it comes to building a community for your brand.
Handling Complex Issues
I’m sure I don’t have to tell you how today’s modern customers love to run to social media when something goes wrong. Social media customer service speaks directly to handling these complex and sensitive issues.
An experienced outsourced team is better equipped to manage these situations professionally and effectively.
They can de-escalate conflicts, provide solutions, and ensure that customers feel heard and valued. Plus, since social media is a spectator sport, these carefully planning replies can lead to other potential customers seeing how much you truly value customer input (whether good or bad!).
Case Studies: Successful Outsourcing of Social Media Customer Service
At B Squared Media, we’ve seen firsthand the transformative impact of outsourcing social media customer service.
By partnering with us, our clients have been able to deliver exceptional customer support, enhance brand loyalty, and drive business growth.
These real-world case studies highlight some of our most successful client experiences and their outsourced social media customer service partnership with B Squared Media.
Luxury Appliance Brand
Our luxury appliance brand client wanted to reduce response times to customer issues and get these customers connected with internal support quickly.
Our team conceived and implemented an escalation plan with dynamic responses (no bots here!) that used customer information to deliver personalized responses. With this program, we saw a 58% decrease in repeat complains — also called escalations — on their social media channels.
Additionally, instead of focusing only on conversations that needed support, this client wanted “no message left behind” on their social media channels. Using social listening to help us be proactive, we looked for both direct and indirect messages for the brand and responded quickly with helpful answers.
This initiative resulted in a 350% increase in positive conversations and mentions of this brand across social media channels.
Pool Manufacturing Client
With our #ThinkConversation mantra in mind, this pool client wanted to continue the conversation when they were mentioned in a positive way on social media. When our team found these conversations, we collected the user-generated content and voice of customer (VOC) data, and we also asked more qualifying questions to continue the conversation.
The result as a 35% lift in positive mentions of their product.
What’s more, we used these positive conversations as a spring board for soliciting more positive reviews for the brand. This resulted in a 69% increase in positive reviews on social media for the brand.
Tips for Choosing the Right Outsourced Social Media Customer Service Provider
Choosing the right outsourced social media customer service provider is crucial for ensuring your customers receive the best possible support.
With numerous providers available, it’s essential to consider factors such as experience, expertise, availability, technology, and pricing.
A well-chosen provider can seamlessly integrate with your brand, offering high-quality service that meets your specific needs and enhances customer satisfaction. And, at least with B Squared Media, costs far less than building out in-house teams with the same skillsets.
Let’s explore some key tips to help you select the right outsourced social media customer service provider for your business.
Look for Experience
When choosing an outsourced social media customer service provider, look for a team with extensive experience in social care.
They should have a proven track record of providing high-quality customer service and handling complex issues. In my opinion, they should also have experience in several different industries. (This helps with our ‘been there, done that’ attitude for crisis communications!)
Check Their Availability
Make sure that the provider can offer the level of availability you need.
Whether you require 24/7 support or specific hours of operation, the provider should be able to meet your requirements.
Helpful hint: The crises always seem to happen after hours, on the weekends, or on holidays!
Evaluate Their Technology
The provider should use the latest technology and tools to manage social media customer service effectively.
This includes social media monitoring tools, social listening tools, and analytics platforms.
For example, our tool of choice, Sprout Social, has case management inside of their tool, which allows us to create and assign cases based on what the customer needs.
Consider Their Pricing
Compare the pricing of different providers and choose one that offers the best value for your budget.
Keep in mind that the cheapest option may not always be the best. Look for a provider that offers a balance of quality and affordability.
At B Squared Media, we offer hourly rates versus retainers. This works well with our clients because they understand that there are days when the volume of conversation is extremely high, whereas other days can be extremely low (or even zero).
Final Thoughts on Outsourced Social Media Customer Service
Outsourced social media customer service can provide numerous benefits for your business, from cost savings and scalability to improved customer satisfaction and access to expertise.
By choosing the right outsourced provider, you can ensure that your customers receive the high-quality service they expect, helping you build a loyal customer base and enhance your brand reputation.
As social media continues to play a crucial role in customer interactions, outsourcing your social media customer service can be a strategic move that sets your business apart from the competition … whether it’s with B Squared Media or someone else!
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