Gone are the days of 800 numbers to file a complaint with a business that did you wrong. Disgruntled customers are well aware of the power of social media when it comes to directly damaging a brand's reputation. In fact, customers are far more likely to share negative experiences online over positive ones. So brands, in turn, are investing more and more resources into managing their social reputation on Twitter in particular.

According to Simply Measured, 32% of Top 100 Interbrands now have dedicated customer service Twitter handles in addition to their standard corporate Twitter account, 13% of which are churning out over 50 tweets per day. The average customer service response time on Twitter? 4.6 hours, with 20% of those responses directing users to an online resource to help resolve their complaint. Simply Measured also found that @NikeSupport comes out on top when it comes to Twitter customer service response rate, replying to 73% of incoming customer tweets. You've got to wonder how much manpower is going into that online customer support team, given that the @NikeSupport account alone has close to 100,000 followers!

   

How much time does your business spend managing its online reputation on Twitter? Does the response rate come close to 73%?

Read Simply Measured's full report on Twitter customer service here.