We often speak with clients and prospects about the impacts that social conversations are having on their search engine results and how nowadays consumer perceptions of their reputation are increasingly influenced by online postings. As these worlds are becoming more and more intertwined the fear that negative comments are shaping consumer impressions is making brands wake up and drive the need to engage directly with their customers and prospects.
A recent report from Econsultancy and bigmouthmedia explored ways marketers can tackle brand bashing and turn negatives into positives. The survey asked what companies had done to minimize negative comments in the past and nearly one-half reported having executed a direct engagement with the consumer. I was pleased to see that so many companies were listening and engaging, but pitied that other 50% that saw their complaint or piece of feedback go unanswered. Imagine if firms had rolling black-outs on the 800 numbers 50% of the time. Now that would get some CEO’s attention.
The next point that I found compelling and encouraging from the study was that firms are taking the feedback and actually trying to improve products and services. In many cases negative feedback is due to poor product, service quality or design and negative feedback may not have been there in the 1st place if fixes had been in place. Leveraging that consumer feedback is a huge positive and giant leap for many firms. The public nature of social conversations is likely driving the speed at which issues are being resolved; this is due to a fear that the issues or concerns will spread into a full blown crisis (i.e. United Breaks Guitars, comes to mind).
The table below from the study highlights the various methods companies are using to manage negative online conversations:
One of the more interesting tactics on this chart is companies that have tried to get offending content removed. While sounding like a good idea, this tactic can backfire and cause further negative remarks against the brand. Econsultancy noted that only 12% of companies tried to create their own content to offset negative consumer opinions in search results which I think highlights the lack of brands fully understanding and leveraging how both the search and social world are increasing coming together.
So where does one get started? The practice of “Brand Monitoring” is one the most important places to start and the rise and growth of Twitter usage has certainly aided with companies adopting some basic forms of listening and engagement practices. The study revealed that publicizing new content was the top activity verses using the microblogging site for customer service or gathering customer feedback.
Nearly two-thirds (63%) of companies reported responding to tweets, and 34% responded “systematically.” I am not sure what “systematically” means but social engagement is not a templated process. At minimum brands should continue to build on a basic framework of listening via free or paid tools/technologies and in parallel build engagement teams and best practices within their organizations to deal with consumer feedback - both good and bad - just like they do in the contact centers, product feedback groups or executive complaints departments.
2 comments ↓
I agree that monitoring feedback - both positive and negative - is an essential part of online branding. I encourage clients to do monthly searches, researching their own company online to see what the internet says about them.
The challenge I’ve seen with clients is managing untrue feedback. For example, one client had a disgruntled ex-employee who went around to sites like Yelp and put negative reviews that were untrue. Another client had an ex-wife that wrote a super-defamatory review that was untrue. I’d be curious to hear how people manage this type of negative feedback.
Bonnie - you raise a good point. The openness of the internet and social channels can allow for the ability of in-accurate information to be posted. The question of what to do is multi-ponged: if you are actively managing your “namespace” the content may not make it to the 1st couple of pages of search engines, if the content is completely inflammatory one can pursue legal means potentially to get it review either directly with the party in question or sometime with the site itself. It’s greenfield and the wild west out there so if further raises the importance of why brands and individuals need keep an eye on search engine and social content the same way they do they credit report.
Blake
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