The lines are becoming very blurred between customers and businesses through the medium of social media. Many companies do not yet know how to treat their social media pages and what their social media strategy is. Recent happenings have highlighted how companies need to have a clear plan in place or else they fall victim to the #socialmediafail hashtag.
A recent incident caught our eye and has inspired this particular blog post. The company in question received some very diplomatic feedback on its company Facebook page from a customer who simply wanted to provide some constructive criticism and helpful comment. The reaction from the company to the customer sparked some intense public debate and led to the company providing a rather forceful and offensive response to its customer. Cue enormous Twitter/Facebook backlash, which then led to a MailOnline story.
The debate that has followed has been heated and viral with many others getting involved to voice their opinion. It has been pointed out to the company, and rightly so, that if you create a Facebook page you are inviting review and feedback and you have to be able to manage any comment that you receive, whether positive or negative.
The best example of social media used for customer care is mobile giant, Vodafone. Vodafone never intended its Twitter page to become a customer service portal however, it received so many questions via the page that it soon served the best purpose to transform it into another channel for its customer service. It is now most customersâ method of choice when communicating with Vodafone, thus freeing up the lines so we donât have to listen to dodgy hold music for hours on end.
When devising a social media strategy a company needs to really think about who its customer is and the purpose that it wants to serve by having a social media presence. Having these clear objectives in mind will only serve to create an incredibly positive experience on social media and allow companies to portray their brand exactly the way that they want to, without any major mishaps.
