A very common objection I hear when discussing social media for business – “What if a crazy customer gets on these sites and posts a lot of bad things about us?”
Okay, fair enough concern.
First I want to say that I disagree with the philosophy that there are no crazy customers, and that companies just do a bad job of setting expectations. I understand that the crazy customers do exist. I’ve met them. And I also understand that it’s very difficult, but not impossible, to “set” someone’s expectations. They’ve set their expectations all by themselves; whether or not you know it or like it.
So why enable a platform that allows crazy customers to rant? The bottom line is that there are already thousands of options for disgruntled customers to rant about you. They could write a blog post about you, use Twitter, leave a poor review of you on any number of sites, and completely trash you to their Facebook friends. Creating a Facebook page of your own may give them a new place to complain, but you want them to complain in your forum for a few reasons.
1. Ridiculous and baseless anti-you statements can be deleted. If someone posts “I hate this company” on your blog or Facebook page, it would be completely acceptable to delete that comment, and you should. It has no value to any reader. Maybe this person really does hate your company, but they’ve provided no basis or substance with their sentiment.
2. A legitimate public complaint should receive a legitimate public response. If you screwed up (missed a deadline, fouled up an order) and a customer calls you on your mistake, own up to it. It’s a perfect opportunity to apologize and show the customer, and the rest of the world, how you intend to make up for the mistake. Despite complaints about rising consumer expectations, I firmly believe it’s not about the mistakes you make; it’s about how you fix them. This public display of the original complaint and how your company responded swiftly, professionally, and completely, is now available for all other visitors to see. No, you’re not perfect. Expecting a customer to believe you are is a mistake and a bad idea. Letting them know you’re fair, honorable, and value their business is a much better choice.
3. You need to paint a realistic picture of who you are. Not only is it not possible for you to perform perfectly, it’s also not possible for you to be every potential customer’s best choice. As companies grow, it’s often difficult to say “no” to new business. Companies end up trying to be everything to everyone. This is most often a recipe for unhappy customers. I’m going to discuss this more in a future post, but be sure that public conversations with your happy and unhappy customers give you the opportunity to paint the most realistic picture of what you’re like to do business with. If you don’t like that picture, you can’t blame social media. That’s a product or business process issue that needs fixing.
Consider Amazon.com – If I’m looking over a book there, I always read the reviews. If I see a book has 4 reviews, and every review rates the book 5 stars and says the book “was awesome” and the “best book ever,” I’m a bit more than suspicious. Not just because I think all of the author’s relatives may have been the ones leaving those reviews, but because it seems unlikely that EVERYONE thought this book was great. At least one person leaving a review must have thought it was only worth 4 stars, not 5. I have trouble believing one product or service is great for everybody. It’s just unrealistic and inauthentic. A modern consumer will be okay if not everyone loves you. Don’t be afraid.
4. The biggest reason of all to enable conversation around your brand is to encourage your happy buyers to discuss you. Unhappy people are the loudest. Your truly dissatisfied customers will seek out places to tell people how unhappy they are with you. Some of your happy customers may do the same, but often it helps to give some of those happy people a little push. You need to give them an EASY way to share their good words about you. By enabling and encouraging your happy customers to share, you’re able to portray a more balanced opinion of you online. Otherwise, all you see out there is the haters that sought out opportunities to trash you.
In summary, delete the baseless hate, don’t be afraid of a legitimate critique, and respond to public complaints in a public way. Your unhappies will always seek out places to share their dissatisfaction. Use social media to help your fans spread the good news. This way, you’re presenting a balanced view online for new customers to find and read about you.
