Social Media has given businesses a human voice to connect and engage with their customers. It also levelled the field for customers in that they could easily reach out to companies and share their experiences with others. 

Before the age of social media, it has been said that if you provide bad service to one customer, he will tell seven of his friends. In this new era where the details of everyday life are quickly shared to the world, a single negative post has the potential to blow out of proportions by shares, likes and retweets. Crisis resolution and reputation management has never been so pressing in that companies now have to dedicate time and effort into making sure that they have satisfied customers.

Listen

Listening is one of the most important steps to take during a crisis management. It is from listening that you begin to understand the root of a problem and plan how to respond to it. Try to locate where a negative comment or feedback has originated. It is important to have a dedicated social media person to keep an eye out for these types of social media activity. The faster it gets to you, the quicker you can start solving it. Get as much information as you can on it. The more information you have, the better equipped you are at creating a strategy for solution.

Acknowledge the negative

Acknowledging the negative lets your customers know that their feedback has reached you. Acknowledge a social media complaint right after receiving it. Letting it sit there only encourages more comments and shares that can damage your reputation to more customers. Acknowledge it first on the social media platform where it started. If an issue has been posted first on Facebook, acknowledge it there first before going around doing damage control at other platforms. Your customers are social, you should be too. Let them know that you are willing to take steps in making sure they get the service that they deserve. It lets them now that they matter to you.

Take the necessary action

Once you have gotten to the root of the crisis, craft an action strategy that can both solve your client’s complaints and manage your company’s reputation. Social media is a great customer service tool that enables you to provide a response to your clients real-time. Twitter is a great example of this. Since Twitter is also available on mobile, it allows its users to communicate a problem to a company as it happens. With 140 characters, it is one of the most direct forms of communication. Small businesses to large companies now rely on Social Media sites like Twitter for real time feedback and crisis management.

Encourage repeat business

Encouraging repeat business can only be done after a resolution. When the customer felt listened to and valued, that is the moment that they will reconsider doing business with you again. Business is a trust based relationship. It is only when trust is established when you can resume doing business again. At this point an incentive or a promotion might be helpful to ease your client back into using your product or service again instead of heading towards your competition. Encouraging repeat business is also a great testament for the rest of your clients to let them know that you are the kind of company that listens, acknowledges and resolves their customer’s concerns.

Learn from a crisis

A crisis brings about some negative effects to your business. However it may not be the worst thing that could ever happen to you. Social media is one of the most effective tools in gathering feedback from your customers. Use this to your advantage to improve your products or improve how you deliver them.

About the Author

 

About Angelica Manlunas

Angelica lives off of coffee and pizza. She spends her time online tinkering on social media, watching short films and poetry slams. Her offline time is devoted to trips to the beach or spending lazy days indoors with a book in her hand. Also, she writes at least 1000 words every day. Email Angelica at angelica.manlunas@transeo.com.au and follow Angelica @ang_transeo.