|
When
talking to marketers about creating a company or brand page on
Facebook, I often get the reaction: “It would be stupid to allow
people to talk negative about us, so let's not start such a
project!” This only means the person in question has no
idea of the power of social media. This same negative remark
could be made in any of the other millions of social media sites
and would thus still happen, but without this marketer's
knowledge. The question still is, apart from knowing about it,
why would you allow people to talk negatively about you on your
own website?
The
game has changed
First of all, the nature of the game has changed. The consumer
of 2010 has a lot more power because of social media and
realizes this. This same consumer is used to talk to companies
like Coca Cola and expects to be able to do the same with your
company, and expects your company to answer within a reasonable
but very small amount of time. The circumstances have changed
and you as a marketer have to change with them. However, if you
are ready to engage in a conversation with your customer, then
any negative remarks might not be that negative at all. Some
examples:
-
You
will be prepared to answer negative remarks, if you are
already engaging your customers online. You will have
developed the platform to handle a negative remark and you
will have a policy and procedures in place to answer
correctly and rapidly. People will likely voice their
negative remarks about you on your own platform, allowing
you to handle it there.
-
Whenever a customer is complaining about you online, you
will have the ability to show your other customers your
level of service to them, by handling the complaint
correctly and thus strengthen your relationship with all
your customers.
-
If
the person complaining does not let go and goes on
complaining, it will show your customers your effort to do
right to them. The longer someone complaints while you
answer correctly, the less likely it is people will believe
it, especially when they are able to follow the
conversation.
-
If
you already have a good relationship with your customers,
then they might even step in and tell the person complaining
not to be unreasonable.
It all comes down to having a
good customer service and showing your customers you are doing
your best for them. As long as you deliver a good service,
negative remarks do not matter.
Free feedback
Furthermore, you can use any negative remark you find to improve
your product, your services and as stated above your relation
with your customers. Social media remarks are the perfect
feedback mechanism that runs for free.
So, next time you receive a negative remark, tell your marketers
to thank the customer for doing you a favor.
|
Social
media
"
