Recent food health scares have burst over social media like an atomic bomb. Horse meat scares have done the rounds on twitter and facebook and the other platforms and some big names have come under attack due to the way they did or did not handle adverse publicity on social media. And it's not just food. HMV went bust in the UK thanks mainly to some terrible social media coverage which they failed to deal with.
Hello Peter and other complaints sites are full of complaints against both big and small business (including St Elmo's Pizzaway and KFC South Africa which seem to attract more than their fair share of gripes).
If you care about your brand,you need to be alert to these complaints. If you value your on line reputation, you need to deal with them. The internet has a very long memory and Google searches will bring up these complaints,putting off potential customers from wanting to do business with you).
An online complaint on social media will quickly spread. This is called Amplification as the bad news for your business is spread from user to user and all their followers. The potential reach of one bad news tweet can very soon stretch into the hundreds of thousands in next to no time, irreparably damaging your brand.
However, these complaints do offer you a fantastic opportunity to engage with your customers and to turn complaints into satisfied folks who will even recommend you to their families and friends, winning you new business. You just need to be alert to the dangers and the opportunities because the long memory of the internet search engines can be made to work in your favour.
So don't just sanitise your Facebook page of any bad news. Don't ignore negative tweets, and don't use cut and paste responses to complaints on sites like Hello Peter,but instead take the opportunity to placate your dissatisfied customers and turn them into good friends, winning extra sales in the process. It is hard work. It needs some investment in social media and a
good specialist consultant to give you advice. Consider outsourcing this work to a
specialist social media consultancy because they will know exactly how to look after your brand and your reputation.
Here is a
great article about how brand rescue and online reputation management is becoming a big challenge to many businesses and individuals
