Be Nice – Or Else
We like to peruse the content over at the Harvard Business blogs – it makes us feel super smart.
A recent article entitled “How to Extend Your Customer Experience Through Social Media” offered some additional validation for concepts we’ve discussed here on The Right Click earlier – “Give It Time” “Dedicate Resources” “Define Some Goals” – but also has some interesting thoughts about social media policy development.
For companies large and small, exploring the brave new world of interactive social media can be daunting. How should you react if someone says something unkind about your company? How can you interject yourself into a conversation between two people about your company? For these an other new frontiers it’s important to think through what you wish to convey about yourself, and then make sure everyone in your company understands and adheres to your vision.
Recently I saw a great example of how not to use social media. On Yelp, a leading review site featuring “real reviews by real people”, a business owner reacted to negative comments with over-the-top angry and insulting responses. He called the people who reviewed his business names, including using profanity, and generated a firestorm of response inside Yelp for his boorish reactions to what most felt were polite, if negative, comments about people’s experience at his place of business. The ensuing community response was swift and sure – many people being pointed to his comments who otherwise may not have even seen them, most of them announcing their intent to not only never patronize his business but also warn others about what type of people work there, etc.
In another interesting phenomena of internet communities, some members started doing research into just who owned the business, and tried to ascertain what the exact relationship the person representing the business had. It turned out he was listed as the “General Manager”, and the Owner’s contact information was rapidly disseminated.
I’m sure you can imagine the notes began flooding into the Owner’s inbox, all decrying the behavior of his General Manager. Within two hours the Owner was posting apologies to the Yelp community, with assurances that all employees would be “retrained” in not only the proper etiquette of participation in online communities, but in customer service response to negative experiences at their place of business. The Owner made inroads into undoing the damage caused by his employee, but it would have been much better to have conducted training before any of this took place.
The linked article above provides some starting points to developing some social media policies for your business. It’s not as difficult as you imagine, most are common sense:
- Define what your company stands for and make sure all employees understand it.
- Make sure anyone with responsibility for posting to your website and social media outlets understands the importance of being polite and respectful, even when it seems most difficult.
- Honesty is the best policy – really. If you think a complaint has merit, admit it and tell everyone what you’re going to do to prevent another occurrence.
- Be firm but fair. Some people are just not going to be happy. You can’t help that, but you can speak your mind and stay consistent. Most customers appreciate consistency.
Remember, social media is a two-way street. The best blogs, Facebook groups, Twitter accounts all get people talking. Monitor your outlets, look to see who’s talking about you. Get involved in the discussions in a positive way, and don’t just send out marketing messages. Let the audience know that you’re listening, and reacting, to their thoughts.