Webcare: create love for your brand with Random Acts of Kindness

What is webcare?

Simply put: webcare is your company’s online eyes and ears. It’s a form of platform management where your company actively identifies and handles complaints, compliments, or questions. This can be via social media, apps, and live chats.

Many organisations regard webcare purely as a form of customer service, with the main goal of helping customers with questions and complaints. However, webcare can mean so much more for your organisation. Alongside answering questions and complaints, webcare also offers organisations the opportunity to build a positive brand profile and build closer connections with (potential) customers.

By looking at messages that are directly addressed to your brand or organisation, and more broadly at messages that mention or may be relevant to your brand or organisation within the context, you can proactively enter a dialogue with (potential) customers and engage in online conversations about your products and services.

Why is webcare important?

Webcare doesn’t just let you see what people are saying to your organisation, but also what people are saying about your organisation. Real-time monitoring of online feedback means you can respond quickly and address issues before they escalate and potentially damage your brand reputation.

By offering this personal support and responding to the right messages, you can stand out positively as a brand and encourage your customers to connect with you more closely. Alongside this, the viral nature of social media can lead to positive experiences being shared, extending your reach to a larger group of new potential customers.

Smart webcare makes it possible for your brand to increase the quality of your online interactions, the reach, the number of likes and ultimately the number of fans.

Random Acts of Kindness

But how can your brand give someone an authentic positive experience with the help of webcare? And what effect does this have on your brand? This can be done with Random Acts of Kindness.

With Random Acts of Kindness, you can surprise people who say something relevant about your brand on social media. Webcare and conversation management mean you can spot opportunities to put your brand in a good light — by sharing nice sentiments or by responding to a message. A successful Random Act of Kindness makes a happy (potential) customer but can also create a positive online buzz about your brand.

A great example of a Random Act of Kindness on behalf of the Walibi theme park concerns 13-year-old Tessa. In an Instagram episode of the program "CHICA" broadcast on NPO Zapp, Tessa said that she was excluded from a day at Walibi due to bullying. In response, we offered her free tickets on behalf of Walibi, which delivered almost 9000 likes, more than 250 comments, and a great day out for Tessa in Walibi. An excellent result.

Another example of a Random Act of Kindness occurred in response to a tweet Monica posted about the Stegeman ad she saw hanging at a tram stop. In the tweet, she expressed her opinion of Stegeman's Omelette slices, using the hashtag #OverbodigProduct (unnecessary product). This seemed like a great opportunity to send a package with the Omelette slices to her, so that she could experience for herself what a #HandigProduct (useful product) they are. We used webcare to put a positive spin on her message, even though she was initially quite negative about the product.

A final example of a successful Random Act of Kindness involves a conversation with Vincent. He responded to a news report about Suzan and Freek (a prominent Dutch celebrity couple), asking if the chicken schnitzels would be on offer at PLUS. Coincidentally, this was the case, and webcare employee Dominique responded to this in a playful way. The result: a nice conversation, with Vincent saying that he would buy the chicken schnitzels, and he even wrote a separate tweet to pay tribute to Dominique.

These examples illustrate how webcare can be used to connect with (potential) customers in a positive way and to create engagement with your brand. Implementing a Random Act of Kindness can result in more loyal customers and give your brand greater reach, and you can do it with as little as one message. The human approach allows your brand to create value and build a strong connection with your target group. So, if you want to go the extra mile for a (potential) customer and put your brand in a good light at the same time, use a Random Act of Kindness.

Wouter Reijm

Social Media Director

Wouter Reijm has been involved in Conversation Management at iO since the beginning of 2014. This indispensable domain is where your brand interacts with your current and potential customers. With his experience, Wouter guides brands in how to continuously improve the customer journey and build customer loyalty.