Two Way Converations
I was on the phone last week with a potential customer, and we were discussing the useful aspects of social media. I was explaining the great customer feedback one of my clients had gotten through Twitter (see “A Social Persona in Action”) and while he was suitably impressed with the idea of the good feedback available from social media, he also expressed concerns about possible negative chatter on the social sites. And it is a legitimate concern.
There certainly will be times when unhappy customers will be on the social media sites talking about your company or your products. You can’t help it, but you shouldn’t ignore it either. As I explained to him, they are out there whether you are or not. Better by far to be proactive and responsive to their complaints.
Put yourself in your customer’s place for a moment; imagine that you had a problem or issue. You mention it on Twitter to one of your followers, and soon afterward, you find yourself conversing with a representative of that company, who is honestly engaging you and trying to help solve your issue! I hope that would impress you, it should! But remember too, that the entire incident is public. Many people will see a company engaging and trying to work with their customer to solve a problem.
My customer then asked, “What if someone is just out to trash your name and nothing you can do will appease them?” My answer was much the same. That person will STILL be out there trashing you. But by responding calmly and obviously trying to help, you come off looking good and reasonable and the antagonist looks foolish and petty. I have also seen cases where satisfied customers will post their positive experiences in defense of a company or product they use.
This is not a contest, and I certainly do not advocate fighting in the public view. What I do advocate is presenting a public face that wants to help the customer solve their issue. That can never hurt your image.
So, as you are deciding on whether or not to try working with social media as a marketing tool, please bear in mind that the social media space is very likely already at work without you, giving people you have never met an impression about your company. Be proactive, and help shape the impression your way.
Next post, learn how to use social media as a real-time survey tool without spending the big dollars for a research team.
Please feel free to comment here, or contact me via Twitter (@consultingwood) on Linkedin (http://www.linkedin.com/in/ralphbagnall) or by email (rbagnall@consultingwoodworker.com)
In the case of people purposely trashing names, we are very familiar with this occurrence. As a company/brand, its important to facilitate honest and real conversations with your customers; sometimes just don’t interfere. We’ve seen on numerous occasions where someone will purposely try to tarnish our name but instead of their intended negative promotion…they usually inspire a heated debate. Here is where you will see your brand champions stick up for you and promote your product/service. And if you have a remarkable product its usually a one-sided debate. Lesson, don’t try to control the conversations, instead create an environment for free flowing honest conversations. If you’re truly worried about what people will say about your products, then you have bigger problems on your hands and should go back and actually make a great product.
Thanks Bruce! Excellent insight from the trenches.
It is heartening to see your customers come to your defense without prompting from you. As you said, it indicates a strong brand loyalty. It also begins touching on my next post about using Social Media to keep the pulse of your brand image.
Thank for contributing to the conversation.
This is always a hard conversation to have with a customer. Especially one who is not savvy on the social media space. In addition to considering that the trash talkers will be there whether you are or not, a company needs to consider that there might be some valid points brought up by the malcontent. Maybe you can learn something about your product/service by engaging with this person or persons. Quality products will get you satisfied customers, but a company that has proven itself to be able to listen and make changes captures loyalty.
Look at Domino’s Pizza’s latest campaign. They listened for a long time about how bad their pizza is. It is tough to hear that what you do isn’t good, but they listened and made some changes. It got me to try them again, and it is really good too. I respect any company that can admit it’s shortcomings and does something about it.
Shannon, another good insite, thanks for your comments. I tell my clients that no one expects perfection, they can tolerate occasional errors or mistakes. What simply WILL NOT tolerate is being lied to or ignored!
What set’s a great company above the competition is how effective they are at responding to customer concerns. The Social Media space gives you another (often almost instant) way to interact with them and respond to thier needs.