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Why jump into a vicious cycle, when you can choose a virtuous one.
Why jump into a vicious cycle, when you can choose a virtuous one.
Another large brand jumped into the social media bandwagon a few days ago, and was received by brickbats. I say ‘jumped in’, and, ‘bandwagon’ because the move doesn’t appear to have been thought through – the brickbats were therefore expected.
The brand doesn’t presently enjoy the customers support on ground – a large number of customers are unhappy with the service and would rather be with another service provider, except that the category doesn’t allow easy shifts. In its attempt to leverage social media, the brand might just have entered a vicious circle of more, and visible, complaints – with no visible resolution being offered.
More and visible, by itself, can sometimes be a blessing in disguise when the volume of conversations around a brand is low, but in this case there was no need to gather further volume. Sometimes it makes so much more sense to:
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Silently listen first
Track conversations, break them into key topics, to understand
- What are the stakeholders talking about
- Are there any key issues that surface?
- Are these product issues, or just a communication challenge?
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Categorize key issues, if any, and resolve
Resolving product/ service issues might require top level intervention from relevant departments and it is important that the social media team has access to them.
Once, an issue has been understood, a solution identified, and agreed upon, it can now be communicated to respective customer/s via appropriate touch points.
Not to forget that the issue requires actual addressing.
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Evaluate the support
- What is the volume of conversations with customer complaints?
- Is it a communication challenge that you are trying to address?
- If you are dealing with product/ service issues, have you been able to identify solutions for these?
- How much time will it practically take to resolve these known issues?
- Have you been able to resolve customer issue and close the loop with them?
- Have you tracked a change in sentiment, over a period of time?
- How many visible supporters have you identified?
A combination of technology and human intervention have a role to play. What appears like a long process might need to be accomplished very quickly – maybe within a day, maybe hours. It will require for a well oiled machinery in place, behind the screens. A buy-in from top leadership, from multiple departments, is necessary to bring ‘actual’ change. Paying lip service to social media won’t really help. Neither does rushing in.
How much support does the brand enjoy today should drive the engagement strategy . If it does not, then it needs to move towards that direction.
Creating a virtuous cycle is possible – it simply requires an earnest desire to bring change and thinking through the approach.
What do you think?
Disclaimer: Views of authors are personal and do not represent the views of Blogworks, or any of its clients.
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