I have to tell you that I have never written a comment on any
social media. Neither positive nor negative. The most I did is “liked” content in a company`s
Facebook account. Unfortunately, it doesn’t mean that I never had a bad
experience with any company before, but in these cases I either wrote an email,
called them up, or just let the thing go. I think I didn't comment before
because of the cultural difference in the way I was brought up. For a long time,
I felt it wouldn’t make a difference, the companies would not care. Nowadays I see
that social media is a really important platform and more and more companies
are starting to pay attention to what costumers are saying about them. Also,
people read about the companies before they choose a product or a service. Social
media can help me and future costumers too.
Even though I have not written a comment in social media
before I do check what other people say. It started out with checking restaurant
reviews. I think restaurants are one of the first and most reviewed businesses.
These days most people check out the restaurant where they plan to go in advance
on Facebook, Google, Yelp, etc. I am no different. The first and most important
thing of course is the overall rating. But besides that, I like to check out
the bad reviews. I think it gives you an even better idea of the place. What went
wrong and how often does the same thing happen? Are the bad reviews really reasonable
or just unfair expectations. With the help of the social media it is much easier
to find good restaurants (and other companies too) in a neighborhood that you are
unfamiliar with.
When I am looking at a new restaurant and I read the reviews
I love seeing how the company is reacting to them. Some places just ignore bad
reviews. Or even worse they try to tell the reviewer how wrong they are. In today’s
world companies have to follow the rule “the costumer is always right”. Of course,
it is not true all the time, but the way to handle a problem is not telling
them they are wrong, but to try to find a solution that can be acceptable for
both parties. So, as I see it, the best way to handle bad reviews is first say you
are sorry that the person had an unpleasant experience. Because even if the expectations
were unreasonable the costumer felt bad and that is a fact. And then find some
solution which works for both sides.
Although I have not communicated with a company through
social media before, I know how much difference it makes if you have a good or
a bad experience . It happened with me before that I wrote more then one email
to a company and I never got a reply. I called them up with some issue and
never reached a representative. Or I got somebody on the phone who told me sorry
they could not fix my problem but if they can help with anything else, they are
here for me. Very frustrating. Because of these incidents there are companies I
do not use anymore. But on the other hand, if I think that solving an issue is
going to be a real pain, but it turns out to be a smooth phone call, solving
all my problems, that can make my day. And you can be sure I will tell all my
friends and family how happy I am.
Communication between the businesses and the consumers is easier
and easier nowadays. And the social media platforms are the places where most
of it happens. The best companies realize that communicating on the social media
platform is crucial nowadays, and it gives them a great advantage.
I find it surprising that you have never reviewed a business on social media... but I can understand why! It's a newer thing. I also agree that it's a good idea not to argue with the reviewer when they post negative feedback; listening to them and improving your product is a better method. Overall, great post!
ReplyDeleteSocial media finally gives power back to consumers. Who knows what huge stack of customer complaints/feedback our emails are going to when we reach out via a customer service email link. Typically we get a really generic, automated response in return a week later. With social media, however, we can reach a representative within seconds, who wants to resolve our issues quickly because we've made our problems with the company public. This is beneficial to both parties though. The consumer gets a quick turnaround on their issue, and the company gets more exposure and an increased likelihood to get a good (and more) reviews from content customers.
ReplyDeleteI don't normally comment on business's social media posts either but I have messaged them through DMs before if I really have something to say! Definitely agree that review websites and reading other's comments about businesses is very helpful in today's age.
ReplyDeleteI'm much like you - I don't really interact with companies on social media at all. It's definitely something that I just don't really have a lot of interest in. You absolutely raise a good point that you want to be cordial when getting negative feedback, too!
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