If your brand is on social media then the chances are pretty high that at some point you will have received a question, query, comment or complaint from a customer. Whether positive or negative, it can be tricky to know how to respond.

This aspect of social media is unpredictable and is possibly the most common reason I hear for not being on social media at all. But in 2016 it is way past the point of this being a reasonable excuse. The point of social media is to have a two way conversation and it can seriously benefit your business to be seen as one that listens and responds rather than ignores or hides. Also, if you pride your business on its standards of customer care, prove it by being visible and available.

When it comes to something high value, such as property, the least you can do is give your customers a few minutes to respond to a question. You probably ensure that each call in your office is answered promptly and every email is responded to, so why not every tweet, direct message or Facebook post? Whilst there are some people who just want to moan, there are far more who just want an answer.

Answering complaints on social media is tricky. It’s better to quickly respond and then talk privately with the customer.

If you still need convincing, consider this: around 38 per cent of customers take to social media to talk to a brand – often if they feel let down by other channels. So if you are not there at all it is not doing you any favours! Furthermore, 51 per cent of consumers have reported that a response from a brand made them see the brand in a more favourable light, regardless of the original query.

If you build a good track record for customer service across all channels, you will run circles around your competitors, so here are my six Ps for dealing effectively with customer service on social media:

1 PLAN

Take the surprise out of customer issues by having a protocol in place. Make sure all your other channels are working appropriately; dedicate a person to deal with it; have a list of stock responses that you can tailor and keep a record of the messages and how they were dealt with. Deciding on and publishing your opening hours is a great way to manage expectations too.

2 PEOPLE

Allocating a dedicated champion for dealing with customer services queries is a good start but it is a good next step to have a list of people, external and internal, that might be valuable resources for queries. For instance, a simple question about a property for sale can be answered by your social media manager but they might need the expertise of the sales team to give a full response. If a serious complaint is made then it is worth thinking about who might this need to be escalated to. A full list of names, numbers and roles in a tree diagram or flow chart is a handy tool.

3 PROMPT

Having these first two steps in place will allow you to hit this next golden rule: you have to be quick! The best social media accounts usually reply within an hour of a tweet or message coming in but if you don’t have the resources to fully respond, sending a simple holding response that acknowledges the message will keep a customer happy for a while. Following this a good guide is returning a full answer within 24 – 48 hours.

4 PERSONALISE

Do not forget that you are a person dealing with a person! Be as friendly, polite and helpful as you would with a customer coming into your office.

5 PRIVACY

Answering complaints and comments on social media can be very tricky largely because it is in public. Everything you say can be seen by your followers and the customer’s followers and there will be occasions where this just is not appropriate for the customer or beneficial for your business. A quick response asking them to send you a private message or email will keep them happy, provide you with some time and allow you to deal with their query in a personal and private manner.

6 PERSEVERE

If a customer has a serious complaint or has had a tricky time getting their issue resolved there is a high chance they will be angry and looking for somewhere to vent. If you are trying to help, dealing with a continually angry person can be exasperating. However, there is a lot to be said for perseverance. If a customer has a genuine complaint there is only so much anger they can direct at someone trying to assist them. If you are dealing with a troll or serial moaner they will soon get bored if they do not get a rise from you!