Aimee Couture’s blog post Are you listening? did a wonderful job outlining why it is important to listen to what your audience is saying about your company, its product or service on social media outlets. "Marketers should pay close attention to anything that might affect the way their brand is perceived online" . As she stated it is important to acknowledge and make your audience feel important. More importantly strategically use the information gathered to improve the company, product, or service, and take corrective actions.
Receiving positive feedback makes the company and its employees feel great and adds to brand equity. Consumers feel important when they establish a positive online relationship and engage with a company or brand they love. The relationship seems important and authentic.
However, what do you do when the conversation is mostly negative? Delete the comments or ignore them? Avoid both when possible. Using social media to engage and listen to your audience means accepting the good, bad, and the ugly.
What you shouldn’t do:
- The Do-Not-Delete-Rule (DND): "unless a comment is obscene, profane, or bigoted, or it contains someone’s personal and private information, it should not be deleted from a social network site" (Kerpen, p. 81). Deleting the comment can cause a customer to become more upset, creating more negative post, or a hate page toward the company. With a click of a button one angry customer can easily contribute to a company gaining a bad reputation.
- Do Not Ignore: "Not Responding is a Response" (Kerpen, p. 82). Ignoring a post or comment from an upset customer only shows the customer the company doesn’t care about their concerns. It also displays the same message to the rest of the company’s audience that’s watching.
What you should do:
- Respond quickly and publicly, and then take it private (Kerpen, p.82): this shows the customer you care and the rest of the world sees that you listen to consumer feedback and willing to solve consumer problems quickly. When dealing with many consumer complaints or negative comments prioritize them based on the consumer’s online influence.
- Turn complainers into supporters (Kerpen, p.85): if a consumer’s problem can be resolved quickly, the customer may be turned from a hater to a brand supporter . Turning an angry customer into a happy one may change their feelings about the brand, create a positive social media post, or refer the company to friends.
- Consider responding with surprise and delight (Kerpen, p.87): This method goes beyond the public social media apology or acknowledgement. It means doing something extra like adding a gift card, free samples, or refunding a percentage off from purchase.
This article "10 Companies That Totally Rock Customer Service on Social Media" shows how companies listen to its audience, handle customer complaints and negative feedback, and do it well. JcPenny's is another great example of how a company's listening prevented a PR crisis. In 2013 costumers took to social media (mainly twitter) to express the companies new tea kettle resembled Adolf Hitler. JcPenny's recognized the uproar and responded to its audience immediately (Sanburn, 2013). The company addressed the issue in a timely manner and with sensitivity. Always show consumers you understand and care about their concerns. When reviewing, negative feedback, use it to help identify problems within the company and make improvements. Respond promptly to consumers who post negative comments and try to come up with solutions.
References
Couture, A. (2017, January 29). Are you
listening? Retrieved from blogspot.com:
http://aimeelyncouture.blogspot.com/
Kerpen, D. (2015). Likeable Social Media (2nd
ed.). McGraw Hill.
Sanburn, J. (2013, May 29). JcPenny's Hitler Tea
Kettle Sells Out Online. Retrieved from business.time.com:
http://business.time.com/2013/05/29/jcpenneys-hitler-tea-kettle-sells-out-online/
