Depending on how serious your issue is, you may not have to pick up the phone. In fact, you may just be a few tweets or comments away from a solution. That's right, customer service is now on social media (to some degree).
If a company or brand is really on top of the social monitoring and listening, then they should be good at answering questions that come their ways. As much as I rag on Time Warner Cable, they have a TWC Help Twitter account for quick-fix customer service, and tweeting to that has actually helped me fix a couple of issues I had with my cable box. The first time, I didn't even mention TWC directly in my tweet, and the TWC Help account found me and reached out to help. The second time, I did mention TWC, and the Help account was right there ready to help.
I also had a quick exchange with a LinkedIn Help account, even though it wasn't a service issue, just a suggestion I had.
Social media is a great way to extend customer service beyond the phone. If the business is fast enough, it can eliminate the long wait on hold and possibly resolve the issue faster. Also, some issues aren't worth waiting on the phone if they can be resolved through some online chatting. Sometimes all it takes is a tweet or a comment on a Facebook post to get the ball rolling.
Another great aspect of incorporating customer service on social media is the exposure and transparency. If others see how the company or brand responds to its customers, and admires how the issue is handled and resolved, then that's good for the company. It's essentially a PR move: they're showing how they listen to their customers and are willing to improve.
A word to the wise, though: don't post or tweet something about a company or brand's service if you aren't ready to talk about it with them. They will find you and they will ask about it.
What do you think about customer service on social media? Have you had a good experience with it?
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