Picture the scene: you are browsing online one Friday night looking for that perfect gift or holiday, but there’s just not enough information on the website. You want to make a purchase but need to make sure it is really right for you before you do. Then you see that they have a Facebook page. Great! You send a quick question to the business so they can put your mind at rest.

Then you wait.

And wait a bit longer.

Finally, sometime on Monday morning, they respond.

It was frustrating to wait for the answer, wasn’t it? Chances are, you either found an alternative in the meantime or were put off by the slow customer service to even consider using that company.

This scenario is what your business should be avoiding. Social media never sleeps, so the hard work you put into your social media pages during office hours will be completely wasted if they’re then ignored outside of the 9-5 working day.

Keeping an eye on your accounts ‘out of hours’ will build your reputation for fantastic customer service (no more grumpy customers waiting all weekend for an answer), will allow you to manage your business’ reputation by responding to any negativity quickly, and is especially crucial if you aim for international clients.

If you’re worrying that you can never take a break from your business, don’t panic! Just setting aside time each evening and over the weekend to check your pages for comments and messages will make a huge difference to the credibility of your business pages.

Alternatively, you can outsource your out of hours cover to a marketing expert: we’re proud to offer the first Out of Hours social media management service led by real people right here in the UK, so you can enjoy your spare time while knowing your business’ reputation is in safe hands.