It’s almost inevitable for any company or organization. We’ve seen it happen so many times before.
As soon as you start using social media to try and reach out to your customers and grow your business, you will have someone use social media to complain, gripe, or say something negative.
To prove our point, anyone noticed Netflix getting some flack for the way they changed their packages and their prices? (Note: we are not using this blog to give an opinion on that subject–not only is it not really our business, it’s also incredibly bad practice–but we do want to use it as an example of a company having to handle negativity that can come through social media.)
If you’ve paid much attention to it at all, you’ll notice they got some pretty snide comments. And that left them with two choices:
- Cross your fingers and hope things eventually blow over, OR
- Try to show people that you’re attentive, listening, and that you care.
Have you thought about what you would do if you were in those shoes? Do you have a plan in place? We can’t tell you exactly what you should do in a situation like that, but we can offer some guidelines:
- be genuine. Show people that you actually care. Doing so will go a long way toward making things right.
- fix it if you can. If there’s something you can do to make it better, do it. If treated with respect, people can actually be a lot more quick to forgive than we sometimes think.
- keep customer service at the forefront. We’re not saying to be spineless doormats, but don’t forget the service part of customer service. If you show that to people, they will be more likely to work with you, rather than talk negatively about you.
- admit when you’re wrong. Sometimes (actually, all the time), honesty is the best policy. And admitting you’re wrong is huge in creating reconciliation.
- say you’re sorry. Sometimes, that’s all people need to hear.
What are your thoughts on having a plan for when your business or organization receives negative feedback through social media? We’d love to hear your thoughts!
