Social Customer Care—Why Personalization is the Key to Brand Differentiation
The shift in expectations in social customer care isn’t new, however the need for more human and proactive responses continue to be a critical need. Social media IS the frontline of customer interactions, which means your social customer care team needs to be ingrained in your departments and be armed with updates, resources, solutions and contacts to build true service and connections with your audiences. Again, this information isn’t new, however brands continue to struggle to provide the right support and guidance on social media teams to activate the best social customer care.
What’s the problem? The problem is many brands treat social customer care as a one-and-done response, rather than an opportunity to engage and build relationships.
What’s the solution? The solution is to have a blend of AI efficiency and human personalization to create standout, proactive customer experiences.
The Power of Personalization: Why It’s the Key to Standing Out
We know when a customer reaches out on social media they’re looking for a more immediate response and solution, however, they also want to feel seen and understood. No one is blind to the generic AI responses because they’ve been flooding social media channels, picking up more and more every day. What’s missing is the continued conversation, the connection and the personalized engagement.
There’s a real and emotional impact when brands do personalize social customer care. I have my own personal brand experience which continues to live rent free in my head because they made me feel so special. In 2018, I came across a post by my friend Sean Greenwood, who runs PR at Ben & Jerry’s, on Twitter (now X) talking about their new cookie dough you could purchase separately from their famous cookie dough ice cream. And my response, as any normal person obsessed with cookie dough, was using a Scooby Doo GIF, searching for clues to find it:
Sean responded in the best possible way:
To my joyful surprise, I received a special package at my office a few days later:
Sean continued the conversation and shared something I’ve kept near and dear to my heart in every role:
If you guessed “Lets love our fans more than they love us” then you’d be right! Without a doubt it’s how I felt in my experience with Sean and Ben & Jerry’s. And even though I was speaking with Sean versus the brand, I was still having a top tier brand experience because someone who worked for the brand was building and continuing the relationship with me.
I also want to highlight imperfection from human responses, such as Sean saying “lover” instead of “love.” This kind of imperfection is one we’ll crave more and more because of AI. It helps show a real human response to me and not a generated response.
This brand personalization left a lasting impact on me and it’s important to point out it’s not just CPG brands who can do and create experiences like this—ALL industries can do this. The way to identify your options is by listening to what’s being said about your brand and flagging the experiences you can make more special. You can start small and see what your company can offer.
Personalization isn’t about using a first name—it’s about context, relevance and real-time adaptability.
Inspiration: https://www.forbes.com/sites/goldiechan/2024/06/04/effective-social-media-customer-experience-care
