14 Aug Do Companies Follow Up on Social Comments?

Many companies approached with the idea creating social profiles for their business balk at the idea of customers having a forum to offer negative comments or complaints.

We always tell them the same thing: they’re talking about you online anyway; why not encourage comments to be in a place where you can use them to your advantage?

By addressing any and all comments promptly over social media, we believe this turns virtually any unhappy customer or client into an evangelist for your business. Most of the time people simply want to be heard. In many situations the problem doesn’t even require a resolution, rather just an apology or some empathy over their experience.

It’s much more beneficial for your company to see negative comments where they occur and address them immediately rather than to delete or hide them. The message is strong when you are willing to listen to your customer.

In February, American Express found that 46% of US internet users it surveyed had turned to companies’ social media sites to vent their frustrations about poor experiences.

Having a plan in place for dealing specifically with negative buzz and then constantly monitoring, tracking and responding to comments on social media are two important ways to deal with negative situations.

According to Satmetrix, a customer service software provider, only 49% of companies it surveyed worldwide in January 2012 tracked and followed up on customer feedback on social media. Wow – that shows that over HALF of businesses on social media do not review or respond to comments, positive OR negative!

Are you one of them?

How do you handle positive and negative comments on your company’s social pages? We’d love to hear your experiences!