Social media was developed by and for a certain generation — a demographic that grew up wanting, and getting, everything on demand. Facebook was built originally for this purpose, and in the same time-frame we have seen similar platforms emerge with a similar mission, whether it is to deliver pictures faster, emails faster, files wherever you go, or even music whenever you want it. These are all consumer based products, and as a result, consumers now expect to get most of what they want as immediately as possible. This includes responses from customer service teams behind the products. 1-800 customer service lines have given way to Twitter and Facebook “help” lines, where consumers with a complaint or question can ask a question directed to the brand’s social media account and receive a reply. These replies are notoriously fast, especially for big brands like airlines and banks. It is when a response is slow, or not helpful, that customers become even more frustrated with the business and consider switching to another bank, or fly with a different airline next time.

If your business is on Twitter, your account is a two way street for both proactively marketing your product and responding to any complaints or questions about your product. Even the biggest companies that have set up dozens of different Twitter accounts for separate products and services, like Microsoft and Google, still need to be prepared to use Twitter in this multi-directional way. Whether you, as the business owner, are managing the Twitter account, or you have outsourced it to a local marketing agency, whomever is behind the account must be prepared to answer questions that come in either via an @mention or DM to your account.

This person must also be prepared to answer questions quickly. This doesn’t mean they should know all the answers, but should be prepared and empowered to respond to each and every person with some type of response assuring them with either a resolution, or that someone who can provide a resolution will be in touch very soon. Empowering your in-house team at a larger business to provide solutions may mean eliminating legal red tape — at least for basic problems. However, this will not only provide a higher level of customer service, but as all communication is public via Twitter, the demonstrated success of happy customers will be great for your PR.

Part of being quick in response to customer problems is also having a backup plan for when a big problem arises so that your business can respond publicly with grace. While your brand’s quick response to typical questions and concerns can demonstrate your level of customer service, a fast and considerate response to a crisis will have an even stronger impact on your reputation. Just make sure that you have empowered those managing your social media accounts to make these decisions without delay and ensure the fastest response to your clients and customers as possible.