Changes on Facebook: Responsiveness

If you are trying to generate revenue for your business on Facebook you have, no doubt, been noticing some changes to the platform.  Many times changes are rolled out to different people at different times.  Other options may not exist for advertisers based on the type of business they have or the settings on their Facebook Page. 

Let's go over one new thing today...

Ratings for how quickly you respond to customer messages:  Now businesses will get a little hat icon if they respond to 90% of all posts within 5 minutes or less during the course of a week.

I worked with a client that wanted to know how in the world she is expected to respond to someone "within 5 minutes" at 2:00 AM.  Don't panic! Let's think about this.  First, how likely is it that you will get messages at strange hours?  Does your business have customers around the globe? Then it may be the norm. Could the number of messages that come in after-hours fit into the 10% allowed for a slower response time? If you only have a few over-seas customers you may not need to worry about the occasional message. 

I am confident that the developers of this tool have the best of intentions at heart, so let's think of the positive possible results. Let's take this same example of customers messaging your Page after-hours on Facebook. The good news is that this tool can help you think about how you encourage customer communication overall.  Does your business display contact information in the About section of your Facebook Page and also on your website?  If you do business with people in various countries, is it easy for them to find your hours of operation?  Do you have a preferred method of customer contact?  Is contact info different for speakers of different languages?  

Even if your business only serves your community, there is another new Facebook feature that should help reduce your response time.  You can "manage replies" in and create something like a form letter.  (Currently, my clients don't have a button or quick way to access this yet.  Go to Messages and select any customer messages. Click on it an you will see the new pre-set reply option.) If you always have customers asking the same question, you can set up the answer ahead so other members of your staff can reply with the pre-written answers.  In most situations, a customer would be pleased with a response about it being after hours and a time estimate of when you can reply with more details. 

Not a fan of this new responsiveness rating? As with many Facebook policies, if you go with what they are recommending it can only make your life easier.  There is also always the option to hire someone (ahem!) that loves the platform, and is willing to help your business adapt to any new curveballs that Facebook throws your way.