Social media is blurring the lines between social media marketing and customer service. Customers are asking product or service-related questions on social channels that are primarily run by marketing departments. Social media managers of branded social pages are having to respond to customer queries which have the potential to reach a global audience.

That timeframe has reduced significantly in our experience: our best practice recommendation is that brands have 15 minutes to acknowledge an issue on Twitter, and an hour on Facebook. But the upside is huge: 71% of customers recommend a brand that gives them a ‘quick and effective’ response on social media, according to NM Incite’s 2012 social care study. The result of good customer service is brand advocacy, the holy grail of social media to marketers.

In this white paper, we have collated some of the best thinking on customer service, and combined it with our own experience to give you practical advice on how to deliver excellent customer service on social media.