49% of Americans are far less likely to buy your product if they see unanswered questions on your Facebook wall.

If their own question gets no response, 45% of consumers get mad and 27% refuse to ever do business with you again. You don’t want to know what happens if a brand doesn’t respond to a complaint made via Facebook or Twitter.

Social media is a huge opportunity for a company to show thousands or millions of consumers how well it treats its customers. Or not.

Almost a third of social network participants say they have asked a question and never received an answer from that business.

Customer service via social media will become even more important in the future. 78% of Americans believe social media will soon replace other channels for communicating with companies. Most are happy to register their complaints and compliments via social networks.

Responding to questions/complaints on social networks quickly, completely, and in full public view (rather than referring them to email or an 800 number) drives brand loyalty and increases purchases. That sounds like great marketing, doesn’t it?

• Are we treating social media customer service as an important type of marketing?
• Do we answer all consumer questions/complaints posted? Do we respond quickly and publicly?