Responding to Social Networking Feedback
The past few years has shown a new trend of customers using social media for their customer service needs. This is something that companies are either not aware of or simply not staying on top of. In order to be effective as a small business owner in the 21st century, you will need to understand how beneficial social media feedback can be for your company. Social networking feedback is unique in the aspect that this feedback will take place in a public forum. Every post that a customer makes on your profile is public and can be viewed by anyone that accesses your profile. The world is watching! This is the perfect opportunity to respond to this issue at hand while addressing anyone else that will view the post. You should always treat these responses as if you are on stage. This is a performance and you definitely have an audience to take into consideration.
The first rule of responding to social networking feedback is to make sure that you are able to respond in a very timely fashion. You need to treat your social media customers with the same level of respect that you would show a customer if they were to walk directly into your store. A big difference between social media and your small business is that social media is open 24 hours a day. You will have to decide if this is something that you want to monitor during your closed hours or if you want to address any late-night posts the minute that you get into work. The goal should always be able to respond to every post within 18 – 24 hours at the latest.
All posts should be responded to including those that are positive feedback. Unlike other forms of communication, social media allows for a more casual and conversational atmosphere. Make sure to show your appreciation to anyone that has taken the time to share kind words about your company. While it is important to make sure that you are professional and representing your brand accurately at all times, social media does allow for a more casual approach to dealing with both satisfied and angry customers. By responding to your posts in a positive and timely manner you will be encouraging other people to leave posts and interact with you. This sort of direct interaction with your customers is what makes social networking so unique and so powerful.