Every single media channel has its own unique set of rules and best practices: to ignore them means to ignore the “local customs”, which might make you look impolite and inappropriate.
For example, while 24 hours is the average time for a reply to a ticket on a traditional help desk software, there’s absolutely no point in answering to a tweet the day after it was posted! When dealing with social customer care timing is everything, and this can never be stressed enough: after a couple of hours an unanswered Facebook post will feel ignored and there’s no way of knowing how badly the client could react.
Getting the timing right can become a huge source of stress… especially when the company’s social activity isn’t fully integrated with the overall customer service and there’s no automated way to immediately address complaints.
Despite all this, there is a silver lining: social media could become a great way to streamline and speed up customer care. Companies that are smart and modern enough to tackle social networks in the right way could really enjoy great improvement in the timing and the quality of their customer service: after all, why spend 24 hours resolving a request that can be dealt with in a couple of minutes?
Instead of looking at speed only as a source of multi-channel stress, every company should see it as an incredible resource!