Social media has changed nearly every aspect of interaction: how we interact with friends and family, how we interact with colleagues and — more and more — how we interact with brands. Brands around the globe are interacting with their customers on all channels and at all times of day. Customers aren’t satisfied with support during the typical business hours of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays. Gone are the days of mailing a complaint letter.

Expectations have changed. Customers want responses as quickly as their entertainment and information: immediately. Brands who aren’t giving the customers what they want are paying for it online: with angry tirades on social media channels and negative reviews on as many sites as the customer can find. The customer used to have no say in how a company handled his or her complaint. Today, brands are jumping as quickly as possible to keep their customers happy.

And with good reason. In today’s world, everyone is watching.

Major brands all over the world are using social media to engage with customers in a number of ways. One of the most recent upsurges in that engagement has occurred in customer support. Brands are now using their social media channels to assist customers with product issues and service questions. Approximately 50 percent of customers are turning to social media to get service help from brands, according to a recent survey by the Center for Services Leadership at Arizona State University, in conjunction with Customer Care Measurement & Consulting. This means that brands are having to meet their customers where they are: online.

In an article from the Huffington Post, statistics showed that brands who provided customers with solid service through their social media channels reaped the rewards. Customers whose requests were acknowledged ended up spending anywhere from 20 to 40 percent more with the company than other customers, and a whopping 71 percent of customers who experience positive social media interaction are likely to recommend the brand to others, compared to only 19 percent of customers who don’t receive a response at all. In today’s world, customers want to share their every interaction — whether it’s with their friends in a photo on Instagram or with a brand through posts on Twitter, Facebook or Yelp.

While positive customer service can result in a big payout, a negative customer service experience can result in a more devastating loss. According to a chart from a study by American Express, 83 percent of customers have backed out of a purchase due to poor online customer service. And each customer who receives poor customer service online will tell nearly three times more people (53 people) about their bad experience than a consumer who hadn’t used social media for customer service (17 people). That’s more than 50 people per bad customer interaction. Could your business afford to take that kind of hit?

Not only will the type of interaction affect business, but so will the time it took for that interaction to happen. In a survey from The Social Habit, 32 percent of respondents who had ever used social media to contact a company expected a response within 30 minutes. On top of that, 42 percent expect to hear back from a brand within 60 minutes. That doesn’t give a brand much time. And consumers aren’t only expecting a timely response, they’re expecting around-the-clock responses: 57 percent of respondents expected the same response time at night and on weekends as they do during normal business hours. In recent years, we’ve seen a major shift in expectations for business hours (as shown by the earlier and earlier open times on Black Friday and the more prevalent openings on Thanksgiving, as well as fewer stores with alternate hours on Sundays), so too are the expectations of response time. Because so many customers are ordering products online at any time, day or night, they’re expecting customer service representatives to maintain that same schedule.

Most companies aren’t able to keep up with today’s mounting consumer demands. In a study by Simply Measured, the average response time to a customer inquiry on Twitter was just over 5 hours. In fact, only 10 percent of companies were able to respond within an hour, and 93 percent responded within 48 hours. That’s a lot of disappointed customers.

To try to combat the influx of inquiries, many brands are creating separate Twitter accounts (or “handles”) solely for responding to customer support issues. This enables employees who manage those Twitter accounts to focus 100 percent on customer support, rather than responding to all sorts of brand inquiries. One brand, Nike, created @NikeSupport, which is dedicated to engaging with customers who need help. When comparing the number of Tweets between @NikeSupport and their regular channel, you’ll see that their support channel has made nearly 340,000 tweets, while their regular channel,
@Nike, has tweeted less than 17,000 times. Nike has made it clear that responding to and answering their customer’s support needs is a priority.

It’s clear that how a brand reacts to online support requests can impact the bottom line, but it’s almost as important to note that a brand’s reputation can be impacted by what’s found online as well. One trend that is now almost an expectation among consumers is the ability to find, read and write online reviews about companies and their products or services. Consumers use the opinions of others to make many of their purchasing decisions. How a brand chooses to respond to those reviews is critical.

In an infographic from People Claim, 70 percent of consumers use reviews or ratings to help them make their purchasing decisions, with 82 percent of consumers viewing user-generated reviews as valuable. When consumers post negative reviews or comments, a company’s brand can take a hit. However, responding to those negative reviews and comments can turn things around. According to that same infographic, 95 percent of unhappy customers will go back to a business if their issue is resolved quickly. Social media provides an opportunity for brands to own their mistakes, apologize and win back a customer (while attracting even more) in an easy and fun way.

Once again, a brand’s response time makes a big difference. In a study from Lithium Technologies, 72 percent of consumers who share their negative experience with a brand expect a response within an hour. If consumers don’t get a response within that 60 minutes, 38 percent of them will feel even more negatively toward the brand and 60 percent will share their dissatisfaction using social media. A vast majority of consumers, 74 percent, believe that they’ll receive better customer service if they share their negative experience online. Most consumers prefer using Twitter to interact with brands, and brands who use Twitter will benefit. The same study from Lithium Technologies showed that 34 percent of consumers who got a response from a brand via Twitter were likely to make another purchase with the brand, 43 percent are likely to recommend the brand to their friends and family, and 42 percent are more likely to recommend the brand using social media channels.

Customer complaints in the forms of letters and phone calls, while still an option for some, are becoming a distant memory for brands. Customers expect 24/7 support and responses to their inquiries. Because everything they post is public, it’s in the best interest of all companies to pay attention and respond accordingly. While it’s possible to recover from negative posts and reviews, it’s a lot easier to manage on the front-end than trying to play catch-up. If you’re considering using social media to interact with your existing and prospective customers, or maybe you’re already using it, be sure to follow these tips:

• Respond quickly — your customers expect it. More importantly, you’ll be rewarded for it. If you receive a complaint or negative post, respond to it with professionalism and with an attitude that lets your customers know you want to make it right.

• Make it easy — your customers want to find you. Make it easy for them to do so. Use a Twitter and Facebook name that matches your business name (or as close as you can get with what’s available). Make sure to post all of your social media channels on your website, and include signage in your stores.

• Share specials and other offers — customers love a good deal. If you have special offers, share them through your social media channels. Knowing they can find offers from your brand will incent customers to follow you, which can lead to even more engagement.