Monitoring takes time and resources
One bad tweet on Twitter or a negative comment on Facebook can lose you business up to thirty customers, suggests a survey by Convergys Corp.
Typically, a negative review by a customer on one of these major social media sites reaches forty-five people. Of these, thirty people will not purchase anything from a company they’ve heard bad things about.
Complaints Made Easy
My own take on this is that I think that social media has become a new outlet for customer complaints. Not everyone will take up an issue with a company directly. It’s a personality thing, I guess, a confidence thing. Not everyone has it in them to complain face-to-face.
Whilst those that have never had a problem complaining in person will continue to do so, I think the big shift here is that the rise of social media is enabling those that otherwise would have remained silent to have a voice.
It’s just getting so easy nowadays to voice our dissatisfaction with a tweet or status update. Particularly as more and more of us are getting iPhones and Droids that allow us constant access to the Net.
Whereas before if the waitress in your local coffee shop was surly and served you a cappuccino that resembled dish water more than coffee you would just avoid the place again, nowadays you can tweet your comments from the table as you attempt to drink it.
With Live Search almost here, the risk of providing useless customer service is getting palpably greater.
Monitor, Respond
The only solution from a business point of view is that you’re going to have to develop your monitoring skills. Particularly as Live Search develops.
TweetDeck or Twitter Search are great for keeping track of your brand on Twitter, but even if the tools are there, they take time and resources to use.
Who in your company is monitoring those negative tweets? Who is listening to what’s being said about you on Facebook? Although it does sound a bit paranoid, the results of the Convergys survey suggest that each tweet you miss could cost you thirty customers a pop. That could be quite a bit of money.
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Nice post Jon. I have a post in the queue on this same subject, but it’s a lot longer!! Lots of way SM can hurt a business! But this is a big one I hear from my clients all the time. You’re right on target!
Thanks for stopping by! Look forward to seeing your post on this.