Customer service expectations have been rising over the years and consumers are now looking to brands to create a seamless experience that spans the physical part of the business to the Facebook timeline. 69% of customers believe fast resolution of the problem is vital to good service, making social consumer support invaluable. Simply having a social media presence is no longer enough; your company’s job is to be a social media guru. And this is also becoming very pertinent in the Kenyan security sector.

Security in Kenya is such a strategic issue for firms that are willing to put their money and invest heavily in it. In security, every company wants to be the best. There are so many customers out there willing to pay a good amount just for the sake of their safety. That’s why security firms have to really invest in their customer service because their service delivery goes hand in hand with the customer care support.

Good customer service by employees and security officers will often prevent dissatisfaction from occurring. Many security firms have realized this and are going social in a bid to create a satisfactory customer experience among their clients. This is because we live in a world of constant connectivity and mobile devices where customers interact with brands through more channels and in more places than ever before. By addressing the customers complaints and grievances over service delivery, answering their queries, providing them with relevant information are all parts of the customer support strategies that security firms can use to keep their customers happy and loyal.

Below are three popular security companies in Kenya and how they use their social media customer service support.

KK security

A company of the GardaWorld, this security firm was founded in in 1967 is one of the oldest in Kenya. It’s based in Nairobi but has additional offices in other cities across eastern Africa. It is one of the few security firms that has really embraced social customer support in the country.  They have a very active Facebook page with over 50K followers. Their Twitter presence is somehow lacking as it has only 41 followers and only 51 tweets.

However it would appear that their twitter presence is relatively new as it was created in June 2018. Going through their social media platforms, you notice that, KK security have mainly been providing news and information concerning security matters.  Their timelines don’t feature a lot of customer support queries by using their twitter handle @KKsecurityHQ but their DMS are equally prompt.

The good reviews on KK security Facebook page

On KK security LTD Facebook page however, the company has been given 5star reviews from many of their satisfied customers. Many of KK security’s Clients praise the firm for their prompt response times, their politeness and their intimate knowledge of their customers.

G4S

G4S is another popular security brand in Kenya that not only knows what services they offer but also how they offer it. It is the largest provider of integrated security solutions in Africa with over 119,000 employees in 23 African countries. In Kenya, this security firms is considered one of the most disciplined and secure security firm by many people.  G4S Kenya also understand the perks of having a social media presence. They run a Facebook Page with over 7.3K members and do over 3 posts per day. Unlike KK security, G4S has a stronger Twitter Presence with over 16.7K followers,   2558 tweets since it was created in June 2010.

Their social media customer support team is very top notch as they are always posting the latest news and information regarding their services as they occur. When a customer mentions G4S main twitter handle, @G4S jumps in to help. This not only helps separate the main marketing channel from all the support and complain discussions, but also shows how dedicated the brand is to solving their customers’ problems.

No recent tweets on Twitter

However there is only one drawback to their social media customer support, since the company has their branches all over Africa, it would be Nice for one to know exactly where to direct their interaction to. They have  twitter handle with over 300 members but no tweets whatsoever,

There are several unanswered and unreplied mentions as well.  Their main handle @G4S seems to be the main active handle, but just how qualified are they to deal with localized queries? They ought to have an active and specific Kenyan handle for their Kenyan customers to interact with them.

Lavington Security

This also a very popular security firm in Kenya that specializes in provision, development and enhancement of exclusive security services registered and operating in the country.  Despite the various hurdles that this security firm has had to endure, mainly salary delayment; making the staff strain and lack of proper work equipment, its social media customer support is really lacking as well. Well, they may have some social media platforms but they are practically dormant.

On Facebook, this firm has 255 members with three posts per day. Most of the engagements are just from the disgruntled employees complaining about their work environment, you can barely see any comment or review or recommendation from their customers. On Twitter @Lavingtonsecuri , the situation is even worse. Since joining the app in 2013, the firm has only 64 followers and one tweet only!

Only one Tweet since 2013?

This just goes to prove how unconcerned they are about adopting social customer service. In this day and age any business that hopes to succeed should consider going social and being consistent in customer service delivery. Maybe if they adopted social media customer service platforms they would be more proactive in handling their issues and avoid things like parliament petitions and court cases.

While it might be tempting to think that only big brands can afford to dedicate so much to their social media support teams, it doesn’t actually cost much. In fact, with a smart strategy, any brand can do the same. Here’s how you can have an impeccable social media customer service in 3 steps

1. Set up a dedicated social handle for customer support

As we can see, the best brands often have a separate social media account to manage customer support requests. This separates your marketing messages from the angry complaints and less-than-sexy bug fixes, and helps your team manage your support efforts better.

If you decide to create a social account for support, be sure to include the handle in your brand’s main social profile so people know where to reach out for help.

2. Have a social customer support lead

Social media support is made up of three elements, namely; support, marketing, and sales combined, and requires a unique skillset. So if you want to do social support properly, you need a dedicated team member who knows what they’re doing, and leads the rest of the team. Another alternative is delegating the work to social media management firms who are dedicated to running your social customer care support. You can never go wrong with such agencies.

3. Create social support guidelines

Social support is a relatively new idea, and it keeps evolving with social media changes. A year ago it might be enough to offer Twitter support, but now your brand might need to start answering questions on Instagram stories as well. With so many channels and changes at hand, there will be many unique challenges that can be tricky to handle. Before you can do something well, you need to define what well means. Depending on what your business goals are, you need to lay out the key metrics you want your social media or customer support team to be measuring. Deciding on some guidelines on how to engage with customers will help align social support with your brand values and goals.

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