In a comment to my last post on how to own your customer service experience, Dave Alston states:
Many brands are going to be pressured to reduce the amount of money they are investing in marketing and PR. So will they see social media listening and engagement as a “marketing experiment” or will they see this as a natural extension of their customer relationship building (support, sales, partnerships etc…)?
Will customers be any less likely to be sharing opinions/likes/dislikes/issues/needs online during a recession or more?
When things are not going so well, when we feel pressure, as in uncertain economic times like we are experiencing in the current down cycle, we become even more argumentative. I do expect customer service to really take center stage. Given that, and the fact that companies are using social media more to serve customers, how can employees and companies avoid social media burnout?
While there may also be the physical stress of trying to keep up with the 24/7 social media schedule, burnout is as worrisome, as it leads to emotional damage. Signs of burnout tend to be more mental. Feelings of powerlessness, frustration, being taped, cynicism, irritability and emotional exhaustion.
Jobs in customer service can be emotionally taxing. Adding the social media component escalates the magnitude of exposure to burnout – when caring about work seems like a total waste of energy. That transfers over to dealings with customers, who will in turn probably be more prone to sharing their opinions, frustrations, and issues online – especially during hard economic cycles.
Social media can provide a way for your employees to deal with burnout, if you’ll let them. By allowing them to take time to cultivate relationships with other people online and face to face – and not just dealing with customer issues – your employees can become more effective in their work and care for your customers better. Some ideas:
