Social media can be a positive asset to your marketing model, as it provides a platform for interaction between brands and customers, but it can also be very dangerous to your brands’ reputation if you don’t manage your social media! Still, companies can always expect to get negative comments on their social media page even if they are on top of it. It is all about turning the negativity into positivity and this blog tells you how!
You won’t always get happy comments from your customers. Sometimes a customer is looking for a quick response and expresses their complaints or concerns in public on your page. Don’t panic if they do! First of all, respond to your customer as quickly as possible, so they won’t get a chance to complain again. It will make them feel that they have been treated with respect, are being listened to and are important to the company. Bearing this in mind, it goes without saying that it’s very important to have your business’ social media monitored every day by your staff. (They don’t need to be devoting all their attention to it. Just a quick look once a day. Most social media platforms will let you know if something interesting has happened since you last checked in in the form of a notification.)
Key words in handling complaints are to listen and act! It is really important that you listen to your customers and that you act on their concerns. Consider taking an issue out of the spotlight when you can. Do so by asking for their email address, phone number or by direct messaging through your social platforms.
After you have handled the complaints, follow up with customers to see if they are happy and if they were addressed the right way in that particular situation. This is very helpful for yourself as well, as this gives you feedback on your work.
Things you absolutely shouldn’t do are to delete comments or to get defensive. This does not represent the company well and definitely isn’t professional. Instead of overreacting and getting the situation potentially to escalate, wait a minute to make sense out of the situation before you respond.
Don’t worry too much about making mistakes, it happens! But whenever the situation occurs, try to solve it with professionalism and possibly humour. The one thing you can’t do is ignore the situation and put your head in the sand! It will only make things worse.
To read more about this subject, click here. The article also includes some great examples of how brands have handled negative social media!