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Merrick, NY--You've been working on giving great customer service for years. And you've recently made the social media leap to better connect with your customers (onto Facebook, Twitter, Google +, Pinterest, etc.).

What happens when you combine the two?

Following are ways to offer great customer service to your customers via social media. Why bother? Because that's where your customers are, so that's where you should be, too, along with all your customer service tools -- it's not like you're ever- without them anyway!

When a customer complains on Facebook (for instance) instead of to you, it's still your problem. But now you have to be aware of it and engage the person in front of an audience.

The practice has become common, so common that offering customer service via social media has its own name: social care. Here's a quick overview:

LISTEN

Know what your customers are saying about you. This means keeping an eye on social media along with review sites like Yelp. There are many ways to do this. Be sure to set it up so that you've covered @'s and #'s for both your Brand and Company Name, in  Google Alerts for instance. And add your brand name plus related customer service words, "help, assistance, support" and especially "#fail."

Or you can use readymade technology to listen in: Social Mention, Netvibes,  Sprout Social or Radian6 are a few.

RESPOND

Just as you do instore, make sure that you respond to any customer issues quickly, efficiently and with the right attitude. Your online presence should be an extension of your regular customer service.

But remember that two days in social media world is like two weeks in real time. Don't delay with your response and solution.

If possible, take the conversation off-line, to an actual person on the phone or a customer via email. Many companies are implementing Twitter handles of @BRANDhelps to bring questions in as well as a dedicated customer service email address.

ENGAGE

Social media isn't going away. Engaging and having a presence online is the best way to keep your brand name clean, clear and well respected.

For more ideas on social care: Forbes Article and Inc. Article.  

Top image: Newbrandanalytics.com