Everyone loves positive feedback. What happens though when the negative creeps in?  How companies deal with it in a time when a complaint can whizz around the world (The Look At It, Richard In-Flight Meal Letter or United Breaks Guitars YouTube video are two high profile examples) can be the making of their Social Media Presence.
This great article from Social Steve encourages Social Media Users to be brave and have belief in their product and strategy.  If complaints and issues are dealt with promptly, honestly and with openness it’s not just the original complainant who sees this, your audience does too.  Your company gains a reputation for fairness and openness and your followers and users will bring things to your attention if things go wrong, as they will have seen how issues were handled in the past.

Test: Are you willing to allow your audience to post open comments on your site or digital presence?

Be brave!  If you don’t like what people are saying about your company, then find out why they are saying it.  Change their minds. Monitor comments, posts and feedback strictly so that nothing falls through the cracks.
(If you are worried about language, most blogging sites offer filters to be set up if you want to screen out certain comment language from your site.)

“What if they say something bad about us?” I hear this all the time. My answer – if it is true, correct it and then respond back noting what has been fixed or changed. You will earn an advocate. I have seen this happen with one of my brands because they were bold enough to invite conversation and engage. If it is not true, your real supporters will come to your defence.

Social Media is about sharing – information, skills, knowledge, articles, stories, anything.  People using Social Media want to share, so if one of your customers who has invested in you sees an uncomplimentary mention they are more likely to share a positive to balance out the negative. Building good relationships is two-way. Invest time and interest in your customers and they more than likely will reciprocate.

Talk to your audience. Start out conversing with a few and get the conservation rolling. Learn something from them. Thank your supporters. Find out what is bugging those that have uncomplimentary things to say. This is how you will cultivate advocates that become your word-of-mouth marketing. This is what we should measure – word-of-mouth marketing. While it is difficult to tie advocacy to purchase, I have zero hesitation stating there is a correlation.

This is where all the time spent building up relationships on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other platforms that you use comes to the fore.  Your customers will know you – they have talked to you, asked you questions, shared experiences – and with that comes trust. When they pass your name onto people that trust them your audience and target market spreads.

As a brand, don’t you want to connect, have an open line of communication, and strengthen the importance your customers feel towards your brand? How do you think that will happen? Through people experiencing your brand. Brand experience is a whole lot more than product itself.

What are people saying about you? Manage that, talk to people, open the dialogue, respond to their issues.  That way you’ll be the first person they think of when it comes to asking for quotes, placing orders, or making personal recommendations.
Don’t dwell on the negative – investigate it, remedy it, take steps to make sure that it won’t happen again and move the conversation on.  Be social – keep engaging and sharing information!
You can read the full article here
Tell me your thoughts on this bank holiday eve – what’s so scary about inviting a two way conversation with our clients??