Liverpool FC are playing in the FA Cup (soccer, if you’re not sure what the FA Cup is!) tonight. It’s a bit of a humiliating replay against Reading.
What’s this got to do with Communications?
Well, it reminds me of an FA Cup game last year which ITV (UK) were covering.
Unfortunately, they made the heinous mistake of cutting to the adverts just when the only goal of the match was scored.
Twitter went crazy almost immediately with fans ranting about how useless ITV were.
Gary Andrews, ITV’s communities assistant at the time, went on Twitter right away, admitting he was also frustrated by what had happened. He then used the TV company’s official Twitter account to hold up his hands and – on behalf of the TV channel– admit that they sucked big time (I’m exaggerating here, mind! He admitted they’d made a mistake. Not as dramatic, though.).
Almost immediately, the outrage on Twitter began to die down.
Guy Clapperton, who talked to Gary in researching his excellent “This is social media…” (no affiliate link), quotes him saying:
Once I’d [apologised], people were actually a lot kinder. There was a bit of gentle ribbing [and] plenty of ‘thank yous’ for at least coming onto Twitter and saying something.
Social Media Strategy
By participating, listening to what customers are saying, we can take the steam out of a volatile situation if we have the right communication tools at our finger tips.
As a company you want to make sure you’re tuned into where your customers are. Increasingly, that’s online.
Ever since Amazon made book reviews and customer response the norm, we’ve got used to expressing our opinions online about everything we buy. It doesn’t mean that we do it all the time. But certainly when something goes wrong, as in this case with ITV.
Remember:
Not every interaction with your customers is about making a sale. Sometimes it’s about keeping them happy and listening to what they have to say. People want to be taken seriously.
Just for a minute think about your business. Do you know if your customers are saying anything about you? Would you know where to look ?
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