Social Media and Reputation Management: The Modern Day Word of Mouth

The world has changed since the days when businesses could get ahead with no more than referrals from existing customers and word of mouth. Chinese whispers have their place, but if you want to do well in a market larger than a playground, then you will need to think digital. In order to do well today, companies need to have a decent marketing plan supported by all channels, both online and offline.

This isn’t to say that word of mouth is obsolete, though. In fact, that’s far from it, as the age of social media makes it further reaching and faster paced than ever before. Where word of mouth might have gained you one customer in the past, now it could get you many more – with Twitter broadcast to thousands replacing one-on-one conversations in the pub. Just as with word of mouth, however, feedback comes in all forms: the good, the bad, and the downright ugly. So how can you amplify the good, whilst controlling and managing the scathing?

“All publicity is good publicity”

If you’re a minor celebrity or someone looking to make a quick buck from selling a story to the tabloids, the old adage about all publicity being good might well be true. If, however, you’re a business looking to maintain some credibility and build a good reputation in your chosen industry, bad publicity can be very damaging indeed. This is especially the case if you don’t have any management or strategy in place to deal with it. Another issue with bad press is that, on the whole, it spreads much faster than good press, as the angry shout louder than the content. Even with the best of intentions, at some point your business will fall foul of some bad reviews or bad publicity. The trick is to know how to handle it.

Run for the hills

One response that some businesses choose is to flee from social media altogether, terrified of what people might say about them. This is only a solution in the same way that running away and hiding in a cupboard is a solution. The customer continues to shout, then shout louder, then find others with matching opinions to join in until the problem is amplified to an extreme level.

If you can’t see or don’t listen to your bad press and angry customers, they don’t simply cease to exist – the problem just gets worse. Just because you can’t see them doesn’t mean other people don’t. People, for example, who could well have become your customers in the future. Being on social media gives you the opportunity to reply, measure the overall sentiment of your customers and work to improve this based on feedback. Hiding from it means they will just broadcast to the wider world rather than to you specifically, without any hope of resolution. Even those that have their heads wedged right into the sand will, at some point, have to come up for air. At this point they’ll realise that, actually, the fate of their business relies on them listening to criticism and dealing with it appropriately.

Action

Accepting that sometimes your business will be portrayed in a negative light is the first step to recovery. Be prepared to take criticism (whether valid or not) and have a good system in place to deal with it as and when it arises. Dealing with things swiftly and efficiently is the best way to prevent the dreaded “complaints spread” and keep negative sentiment in proportion. Then, where possible, you can try to turn it around into a positive.

A good customer complaints procedure is an absolute necessity for any business, as it ensures your customers feel their opinions are valid and there is a route to resolution. Social media comes into this, as more often than not people turn to their keyboards when disgruntled. There they are intent on telling you – and the world at large – all about their bad experience. Making sure you respond in a timely and helpful manner is the first step to success, as people do not like to be kept waiting. In fact, frustration levels will rise proportionately to the length of time they are left feeling ignored. To best deal with negativity, integrate your social media strategy with both your customer service efforts and marketing plans.

It is also important to actively share positives on social media so that negativity and complaints handling is not everything for which your platforms are used. This doesn’t mean re-tweeting every little compliment you receive, though, as this will quickly lose you followers as it’s too self-serving to benefit an audience. Instead you can occasionally share feedback that is outstanding and publicise any awards or good work you are doing using a mix of content and social. This will go some way into bringing a balance of good and bad, thus changing perceptions in the longer term.

Reaction

It might be that you feel it’s too late to deal with negative sentiment, so it’d be best to steer clear of dealing with your reputation on social media. Not only that, fear of just how much work this will involve can also be off-putting. Put it this way, though: if you do nothing, nothing will improve. If you take action, you are allowing yourself the right to reply and offering your side of the argument, or a solution upon which everyone can agree.

Dealing with sentiment and reputation on social can seem daunting, especially if you have never tackled it before. As such, it may take you a while to make a dent on the negative. However, it is an extremely worthwhile exercise. By being seen to be dealing with the situation you are showing past and future customers that you care, are contactable and more than willing to help. Balance reacting to past concerns and press with producing new material and talking positively about your industry. Then you can begin to restore a more even brand sentiment.

You spend so much time and effort building a company and a brand that it makes sense to ensure it continues to be represented in a good light. Social media is a huge part of most peoples’ day to day lives, so having a presence and a method of dealing with customers there is essential. In the short term you are proactively and visibly addressing concerns and setting minds at ease. In the long term you’ll see a shift in the amount of negativity you see. Burying your head, however, could have the exact opposite effect.

Social Media and Reputation Management: The Modern Day Word of Mouth