With Social Media – Don’t Be Afraid of the Negative
June 18th, 2009 by Liana EvansOne of the biggest complaints about social media, or rather reasons companies give for not getting involved in it, that I hear time and time again is that they are afraid of what people will say about them, and fear they have no control over that. Unfortunately for these companies what they don’t realize is that this is going on whether they are involved in social media or not. The problem really isn’t that there is something bad being said about them. The real problem is that they (the companies) aren’t listening to what’s being said.
Right now I’m on vacation in Key West. I say that not to make anyone jealous, but more to give a background to this post. See I booked my hotel based on the establishment’s response to some “negative” reviews on a Social Media site called TripAdvisor. I’m staying at the Palms Hotel on White Street here in Key West. I was looking for a quaint hotel, closer to the heart of Key West, but not amidst the busy happenings of Duval Street. I searched through reviews of a lot of hotels and B&B’s when I came across the listing for the Palms, I noticed a few negative reviews. But I also saw the owners, actively engaged in responding to those reviews.
After seeing the responses, taking into account both positive and negative reviews, looking at the photos, and also seeing the Triple A reviews, I decided to book my stay here. Not because it was glowing 5-stars, but because it was more real than any of the other reviews I saw. It was a nice mix of negative, positive and active involvement of the establishment. It also gave me a much better idea of what to expect when I got here to The Palms. As some of the reviewers pointed out, there is no parking, but when you realize this hotel is actually in a residential area, you understand why. It’s also not the Ritz, it’s a quaint, out of the way hotel with very nice staff, attentive for the most part, and clean!
Whether you are a service provider, such as a contractor or painter, a professional service provider like a doctor or lawyer, or a hospitality provider, like a restaurant or hotel; you really need to be involved in social media review sites. If you aren’t involved and just sticking your head in the sand hoping sites like these will just go away, you are going to be waiting a long time. Sites such as Yelp and TripAdvisor, which have the ability to rank your business name, are only growing in popularity.
The flip side of this coin is that people who are looking for information about services aren’t always going to be looking for your business name. Like me, they’ll comb through review after review to get a balanced perspective and know that they can trust you’ll do a good job for them. They won’t believe the reviews that are just too glowing: those actually appear fake. What they will believe is a balance of negative and positive, solidified even more by the business owner’s involvement.
So don’t be afraid of the negative. Not only is it a chance to turn a bad situation into a brand new evangelist, it’s also an opportunity to change those “on the fence” buyers into your customers. Just like in face-to-face dealings with customers, you can’t please them all, all of the time. You can, however, at least take the time to acknowledge their complaint and use that information to either improve your services or keep it in mind for the future. After all, even in social media, not all days are days at the beach … but hiding your head in the sand isn’t the answer either.
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Excellent article. I completely agree: social media gives companies the opportunity to present their side of the story. It’s a potential win-win for everyone concerned. The difference between traditional channels such as email or phone as a feedback mechanism is that they are essentially private mediums between complainant and company. Social media on the other hand is a wholly public platform, where complaint and resolution take place, for the most part, in an open and transparent manner. At Carphone Warehouse we actively engage with our customers via Twitter providing both customer service (@becksatcarphone) and general help and support (@guyatcarphone). Our aim is to resolve our customer’s issues in an empathetic manner, and Twitter particularly is a perfect medium for this.
Great post and excellent advice
Not only are review sites important for consumer decision making, having reviews helps local businesses index higher for mobile searches.
Companies that engage definitely look more receptive.
Steve Espinosa gave great insight on this at SES SJ
Totally agree with this and think there are some companies that it is an absolute MUST to 1) maintain customer loyalty, and 2) avoid it getting out of control and becoming a major PR mess. I recall in the mid 90s, when working for CompuServe, AOL was out there touting their suscriber growth, and it seemed that for AOL even bad press was good for them. It got their name out there and only served to fuel their growth (along with disks dropping out of the sky).
Today, with the ease of finding “bad press” about a product or service, if there’s nothing to positive to compensate as Liana found with the Palms, then the company should expect to lose out on business.
The trick is to be aggressive promoting positive word of mouth, delighting customers at every opportunity – ‘especially’ that segment that we know will be out there tweeting and blogging about their experience.