Community management: The modern customer wants to be looked after at all times

Today, having a company profile on Facebook, LinkedIn or Instagram is almost part of good manners or at least part of any contemporary communication strategy. Increasingly, the social media presences of companies are also used by customers and interested parties to make complaints and criticisms or to request information. Since community activity is generally higher on weekends, other presence times are also required for community management on the company side.

Social media users expect companies to respond quickly - at any time

While these platforms are enjoying increasing popularity - even if not all channels to the same extent - the speed of communication on them is also increasing. Users who contact a company via social media usually expect a response within a very short time. Constant support for fans and followers in the social media is therefore a fundamental element of customer relationship management. Many companies already act in an exemplary manner in this area. But requests, concerns and complaints do not adhere to office hours. Therefore, companies that ensure the flow of information day and night in particular can ensure a positive perception of their name or brand in the long term. It can also reduce the risk of online crises and provide timely intervention in the event of a shitstorm. In this area, however, many companies are still in a state of dormancy.

Sample of 50 of the top 100 blue chip companies shows need to catch up

Even though social media is often used for and during work, (private) user interaction is higher on weekends, as a recent study by Quintly shows. Those who contact companies with private concerns often do so outside of office hours. Nevertheless, a quick response is expected. The online marketing agency Xeit contacted 51 of the top 100 blue-chip companies in Switzerland on a random sample basis on Friday evening, Saturday or Sunday via Facebook Messenger to gain insight into their interaction behavior. Only just five companies responded with a personalized response, 40 percent did not respond and 6 percent did not respond until Tuesday. Looking at community activity, however, shows that at 28 of the selected companies, fans and followers are definitely active over the weekend, albeit rather discreetly in eight cases. Nevertheless, of these companies, only just two responded on the same day, while nine others got in touch within the following two working days. The remaining responses are pending to date.

Standard responses via autoresponder: High interaction rate in English

Some companies have set up an autoresponder in Messenger that indicates that they won't get back to you until Monday. What is striking is that companies with international Facebook profiles in particular respond with a standardized automatic reply in English. In some cases, however, the response is still a long time coming, even on Wednesday. The autoresponder, however, responds immediately in most cases, which artificially boosts the interaction rate of the corresponding companies.

The solution: professional community management outside official office hours

Are social media channels often not operated due to a lack of resources or legal hurdles? Or do many companies still have a policy of not working on weekends? However, if you have a large community that is particularly active in the evening and on weekends, you would be well advised to manage your profiles outside of office hours. If you post articles on the weekend or invite the community to participate, you also have a good chance that user interaction will be correspondingly higher and the articles will be seen more often.