Special Guest Blogger:
Heather Robinson
Social media is often
seen as both a blessing and a curse to businesses. On the one hand, it gives us
access to a huge audience of potential customers for next to nothing, but on
the other hand, it opens a channel of communication which, along with phone and
email, requires careful management.
Thankfully, there are
tools out there to help us monitor mentions of our brand and respond quickly to
comments. Hootsuite is one of those tools which is free for those with three or
fewer social media accounts to manage. It’s great for those who want to get
more from their activity on Twitter and really listen and engage with their
followers.
If you’ve been using
Twitter a while, you’ll know that you can get notifications when someone
mentions you in a tweet, but only if they use your official Twitter handle
(@username). There will be people who tweet about you using your company name
which won’t trigger a notification from Twitter. This is where Hootsuite comes
in.
You can set up a
‘stream’, which is basically a feed of tweets, that contain your company name
and variations of it. This will show you in real time when people are talking
about you and allow you to respond appropriately. (For more information on
Hootsuite and to set up a free account visit: http://hootsuite.com).
It’s so easy for
customers to say what they feel publicly via a tweet, rather than provide
feedback privately. This is all well and good if the feedback you receive from
customers is always positive, but how do you deal with comments that are negative
and suddenly in the public realm?
Rule 1: Respond
immediately, whether you have a solution or not. It’s important to acknowledge
the comment straightaway and let the customer know what will happen next. For
example, you may need to investigate their case, raise it will another member
of staff or a manager or simply buy yourself time to find a suitable solution.
By responding immediately, you’re letting the customer know they are important
and you’re taking their comments seriously.
Rule 2: Apologise and
don’t argue with the customer, even if you disagree. Remember, it’s not
personal and despite what you think, the customer is always right (at least in
their own minds). Remain professional in your response and empathise with the
customer’s situation. The aim is to resolve the issue as amicably as possible,
not to win a fight. In every complainant, there’s a potential brand advocate,
so be nice!
Rule 3: Take it offline
as soon as you can. Most complaints can be dealt with more effectively over the
phone or email. Don’t try to battle it out in public as those tweets can hang
around a long time; even if you delete them.
Follow the person on
Twitter then ask them to send you a direct message (DM) with a contact number
or email address for you to contact them privately. You need to be following
the person to receive a DM from them unless you’ve changed your communication
preferences to allow anyone to send you DMs.
In conclusion, Twitter
is a wonderful medium for getting your message out there, but it’s important
not to get too enthusiastic and forget about the potential messages coming back
at you. With one free tool and three common sense rules, you can be more
effective at managing customer feedback (good and bad) on Twitter and
maintaining your brand’s reputation.
Heather Robinson
Digital Marketing
Consultant and Author
Skittish Digital:
http://skitti.sh