When the brands were not present in the social networks As they are now, customers who had a complaint They went directly to point of sale or they called customer service if there was one and in this way expressed their dissatisfaction or complaint.
Today things have changed. Today everything is exposed on social networks and a brand that has a presence in them will be forced, sooner or later, to face a crisis of greater or lesser size but that it must know manage correctly.
Negative feedback
First of all, let's look at what we can call a crisis and what not.
Receive negative comments In isolation they cannot be considered a crisis in any case. There will always be dissatisfied customers who use social media to send us their complaints in the form of negative comments or publications about our brand that do not favor us.
In that case we must reply as soon as possible to the client, but not before finding out everything necessary about the complaint in order to be able to give a response adjusted to reality.
Leave unanswered comments of this type gives image of opacity by our brand, so if we see that collecting all the information is going to take us a while, it is best to respond that we are working on it and we will respond as soon as possible.
In the case of a user who has actually had a bad experience with our products or services, the best is apologize, provide a explanation and provide a means through which to continue the conversation privately, such as an email address, a customer service number or writing the user a private message (in the case where we manage the page from a professional profile).
Getting into a fight in public is never an option. and can generate an unpleasant situation that affects the image that other users have of our brand.
When the reputation of our brand is in danger
This is a crisis. When negative comments grow in number or a negative publication about one of our products manages to reach a significant number of people, we are talking about a crisis in which the reputation of our brand is in danger.
The only way to efficiently manage a crisis on social media is being prepared. Defining an action protocol in case of crisis is the first step.
We cannot foresee all existing sources of crises; However, we must recognize that all companies or brands have one or more weaknesses which can cause a situation of general discontent among users or a significant mass of negative reviews.
Therefore, the first step when defining a crisis action protocol is to identify the weaknesses of our brand. What did we fail in? From this premise, we can develop the protocol.
And of course, as we have already mentioned, it is essential Respond quickly and politely.
On these occasions it is recommendable:
- Admit mistakes and apologize, if applicable.
- Be honest and open, explain how it happened and be prepared to dialogue with users as long as they accept our message and ask us for explanations.
- Give one custom response in the case of problems that directly affect these users. In this case it is best to continue privately.
- Explain in public what is going to be done to solve the problem.
- Be empathetic and establish a respectful dialogue. Do not get angry, always maintain a correct tone and show that you are open to listening to everyone's demands.
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