Written by Travis Pryor, Digital Marketing Specialist
It’s inevitable, someone is going to be hurt or upset by what you or your organization does or does not do. We know this to be true. In fact, all of us have experienced this at some level.
It’s one thing for someone to be upset with you and address it, or even ignore it. But, it is completely different when they take to the Internet to share their story of frustration with the world. For some people, they are looking for attention, others want something to be addressed and changed, and others, well…we aren’t sure why they are so upset. Either way, at some point you are going to have to accept the reality that your organization caused a negative emotion because of something you did or said, or didn’t do or didn’t say.
We’ve got seven ideas to help you acknowledge this inevitability of life and how to deal with people. We believe these ideas can help mend relationships and help brands continue to grow and reach their goals.
Ignorance is not bliss. You cannot ignore the problem and hope that it does not exist. The reality is that it does exist and it needs to be dealt with.
If you pretend that the problem does not exist, it is only going to grow without any boundaries. What if we did this with our lawns? It starts out slow with only one comment or one weed in our yard. But eventually after not being maintained or taken care of, our reputation looks like the median as we drive down the middle of the highway, overgrown and completely blemished.
2. Be Gracious in your response
Should you choose to move from ignorance to embracing reality, you may choose to respond to individual reviews. If you choose to do this, respond with grace. People can tell when you are not being genuine or are pasting from the company handbook. People want to see honesty and grace, especially when things are not going well. When you respond with grace others can tell, and you are likely gain trust because of your response.
3. Offer a solution
If you choose to respond to your negative reviews on social media, if it makes sense offer a solution that builds trust and creates loyalty. You probably shouldn’t tell them you are glad they are not using your service anymore and are going to your competitor.
Instead choose to offer them something that builds trust with your brand. Offer them a free sample, a new contract, a chance to showcase your new products for free. By humbling yourself and admitting wrongdoing, you showing the customer that you are human.
You don’t need to chase customers that are unhappy and are leaving, but if this allows you the opportunity to see a legitimate flaw in your organization or services, then offering a solution shows them that you are willing to work and grow as an organization and are not the end all be all.
4. Be the authority (Know what you are talking about) Don’t let the intern respond.
If a customer has a problem with something very specific, maybe something specialized in your field, don’t let the intern respond. (There is nothing wrong with interns). If the intern is going to be responding make sure they do their research to ensure correct information goes to the customer.
People want to talk to people. They don’t want a copy and pasted answer from Wikipedia, they want to hear from you. They want to hear and honest response that shows them you are the industry leader and specialist.
Make sure that your responses actually address the issues that are being raised.
5. Track the Problem and when necessary make organizational changes
Is there a theme among negative reviews? Are most of your negative reviews about service, quality, management, pricing? If so, you might need to make organizational changes that impact the review. If this is the case, take the time to respond individually to those who have voiced their concern and inform that you are working to correct the problem internally and will let me know when the necessary changes have been made.
More than anything people want to know that you care. They want to know that they are heard and acknowledged. When you hear the concerns of the people and address them you are showing them that you care and that you are willing to work to build the relationship and trust with them.
6. Remember your Social Media Strategy (Which means you need to have one)
When responding to negative reviews on social media remember your social media strategy. Remember who you are targeting with your content, even in your response. Make sure that your response aligns with your social media strategy and if you do not have a social strategy, that should be high on your list or priorities.
7. Make Monitoring Your social media channels for negative review a priority.
This can’t be something you do when you feel like it. Social Media does not happen on accident and is not something you do at the end of the day to milk the clock to 5 P.M. This has to be part of your weekly or monthly to-do list. If you see negative reviews you can respond accordingly, but if you don’t they are happening it’s only continuing to grow like the weeds in the median of the highway.
Final Thoughts
We understand that people are different and so are organizations. This is not meant to be a one size fits all post. Rather our hope is that this helps give a you different tools for different situations. And if nothing else, allows you time to “cool down” before responding to the inevitable negative review.
If you are looking for brand monitoring services this is something we offer as part of our digital marketing strategy and would love to have a conversation about what this looks like and how we can help. #Heretohelp.
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