--- title: "Customer Service: Don’t Leave Your Members Hanging" id: "28980" type: "post" slug: "customer-service-dont-leave-your-members-hanging" published_at: "2015-06-18T18:09:12+00:00" modified_at: "2026-11-09T17:53:06+00:00" url: "https://associationsnow.com/2015/06/18/customer-service-dont-leave-your-members-hanging/" markdown_url: "https://associationsnow.com/2015/06/18/customer-service-dont-leave-your-members-hanging.md" excerpt: "American businesses are ignoring consumer queries on social networks, a study finds. Plus: Let’s make live-tweeting at events work for everyone." taxonomy_category: - "Marketing / Communications" taxonomy_post_tag: - "AssociationsNow" - "Communications" - "customer service" - "Membership" - "Social Media" taxonomy_content_format: - "Article" taxonomy_role: - "Association CEO / Executive Director" - "C-Level" - "Executive Team" - "VP" taxonomy_persona: - "Association Professionals" --- [Home](https://associationsnow.com/) » [Articles](https://associationsnow.com/format/article/) » Customer Service: Don’t Leave Your Members Hanging About 67 percent of [consumers flock to social media networks (opens in a new tab)](http://www.jdpower.com/press-releases/2013-social-media-benchmark-study) to talk about their recent purchases and customer service experiences, thinking they’ll get an instant response. But it can be hard for companies to keep up with the comments and questions. So just how well do companies respond? [Social firm Socialbakers looked at (opens in a new tab)](http://www.thedrum.com/news/2015/06/14/us-brands-ignore-80-twitter-questions-answer-facebook) 6.5 million tweets and 1.4 million Facebook posts aimed at U.S. businesses in the first three months of 2015 to find out. According to the firm, people tend to post more queries on Twitter than Facebook, but company response rate is the opposite: U.S. companies ignored about 80 percent of posts on Twitter, while they answered 60 percent of questions on Facebook. Worldwide, customer queries did better, with a third of Twitter questions and three-fourths of Facebook questions being answered by businesses. **How can associations learn from this?** Customers don’t like to be left hanging. Twitter and Facebook [have introduced new features (opens in a new tab)](http://time.com/3916355/social-media-customer-service/) that could improve customer service. A direct message on Twitter can be sent by anyone, to anyone, even if the two aren’t following each other, [as long as the recipient opens up (opens in a new tab)](https://blog.twitter.com/2015/easier-than-ever-to-have-private-conversations) their DM inbox (nudge). And with DMs [soon shedding (opens in a new tab)](http://www.usatoday.com/videos/money/business/small%20business/2015/06/12/71114120/) their 140-character limit, the excuses for not using Twitter are starting to fade. Meanwhile, Facebook announced [Business on Messenger](http://associationsnow.com/2015/03/thursday-buzz-facebook-wants-reinvent-customer-service/) to facilitate communication between companies and customers. ### Let’s Talk Live-Tweeting https://twitter.com/vjmeetings/status/611315005292683264 **Want to talk about live-tweeting your event?** Awesome! [Callie Walker at MemberClicks has a few tips (opens in a new tab)](http://blog.memberclicks.com/6-tips-for-live-tweeting-your-event) for anyone who wants to provide real-time updates at an event. Walker says you should alert all followers ahead of live-tweeting. “This will let your interested followers know when to pay attention and give your non-interested followers a heads up,” she explains. ### Handy Links of the Day **Looking for ways to push your association’s mission?** How about getting more involved in politics and legislation? At Frank J. Kenny’s site, [Christina Green explains how to make it happen (opens in a new tab)](http://frankjkenny.com/how-to-get-your-chamber-more-involved-in-legislative-initiatives/) . **“Networking is an art very few people master,”** says Diana Kucer, LinkedIn’s director of global product marketing. She shared her tips about the topic with [Inc.com contributor Jeff Haden (opens in a new tab)](http://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/5-smarter-ways-to-build-the-professional-network-you-need.html) . **It’s vacation season.** But … but … work! *Lifehacker* hosts a *Harvard Business Review* [piece from Elizabeth Grace Saunders (opens in a new tab)](http://lifehacker.com/how-to-take-a-vacation-without-stressing-about-work-1711674534) on how to reach vacation bliss without the work stress. Make it a trip with a true “out of office” mindset. (iStock/Thinkstock) [Patrick deHahn](https://associationsnow.com/author/patrick-dehahn/) Patrick deHahn is a contributor to Associations Now. [More articles by this author](https://associationsnow.com/author/patrick-dehahn/) Tags: [#Communications](https://associationsnow.com/tag/communications/) [#customer service](https://associationsnow.com/tag/customer-service/) [#Membership](https://associationsnow.com/tag/membership/) [#Social Media](https://associationsnow.com/tag/social-media/) **Stay Informed** [Subscribe to our free newsletter](https://associationsnow.com/newsletter/) , *Associations Now Daily News*, to find out what’s happening in the association world every business day. ## You Might Like - [Video2025 Summit Award Recipient: American Speech-Language-Hearing AssociationOctober 3, 2025](https://associationsnow.com/2025/10/03/2025-summit-award-recipient-american-speech-language-hearing-association/) - [VideoSneak Peek: Highlights from Day 2 of the 2025 ASAE MMC+Tech ConferenceMay 14, 2025](https://associationsnow.com/2025/05/14/sneak-peek-highlights-from-day-2-of-the-2025-asae-mmctech-conference/) - [VideoSneak Peek: Highlights from Day 1 of the 2025 ASAE MMC+Tech ConferenceMay 13, 2025](https://associationsnow.com/2025/05/13/sneak-peek-highlights-from-day-1-of-the-2025-asae-mmctech-conference/) - [VideoThe Future is Yours to Create. 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