Customers across all industries are using social media to air their questions or concerns. Insurance agencies are not exceptions. From an agency perspective, handling customer service requests on platforms like Twitter and Facebook can save time and money, in addition to providing direct access to existing and potential customers.

But if you choose to do it, you must be consistent. It’s important to monitor your social channels daily to answer all questions in a timely manner, demonstrating your commitment to responsive customer service. And you should take screenshots of everything and add it to your agency management system to ensure you always have a record.

The public nature of social media is two-sided. It enables prospects and other customers to see your responsiveness. But it also means any missteps can put your reputation at stake. Before engaging with customers online, you should craft organization-wide guidelines for replying to concerns quickly and in a manner that aligns with your agency’s values. These guidelines should cover who has permissions to respond on each platform, messaging tone, response time, answers to frequently asked questions, and escalation protocols, according to Hootsuite.

Sometimes, customer service requests will require the exchange of confidential information. When it comes to insurance, that should always be a private discussion. It’s important to move the discussion to private channel mode. For example, Facebook allows users to respond privately to public comments in Facebook Messenger. A note will then automatically appear under the public comment reading, “Page responded privately,” letting others know you resolved the issue. If you respond to a Twitter post using its direct messaging service, you can leave a public reply under the original Tweet asking the customer to check their DMs.

According to Birdeye if someone posts a complaint about your agency, you should respond within 48 hours by offering an apology and suggesting the conversation move to a DM, email, or phone call. Avoid sending an automated reply, but to streamline the process, create a template in which you can fill in personalized information. This includes the customer’s name and how the issue will be resolved. Also, the negative review shouldn’t be deleted.

With so many different avenues of communication, it’s important to stay on top of your customer support.

Every agency can develop a culture focused on customer retention—it takes communication and practice. Consider these ideas:

• Emphasize the importance of routine, proactive communication
  with clients and personalized interactions with your team.
• Highlight client interactions in team meetings.
  Have the staff involved talk about what they did.
• Set up a schedule with checkpoints throughout the year
  to touch base with clients, including policy renewals,
  birthdays, and holidays.
• Make client conversations meaningful by individualizing them.
• Provide a safety goody bag to clients who visit the office.
• Ask clients how they want to receive information: email, text, mail,
  phone calls, or all of the above.
• Never overcommit to things you can’t deliver.