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What does the math say about social media?

  

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Recently an acquaintance of mine had a very unpleasant experience with a major retailer and I began to wonder what options the person had to convince the retailer that it was in everyone’s best interest to resolve the matter as opposed to leaving my friend unhappy.  The reality is that we all have had a negative encounter with customer service in one form or another.  From working in the hospitality field, I have first hand experience with people who had been met with what they believed to be poor service.  The lesson I learned very early on in hospitality, and which I believe to be true in most industries, is not that the customer is always right, but that they believe they are. With the growing popularity of social media this lesson is becoming more and more relevant.

In April 2010, a study based on an online questionnaire conducted by the Harris poll provided hard numbers which seem to validate the concern that companies have over their image being presented via social media. There were previous assumptions that social media users were limited to teenagers following celebrities, which was shown to be incorrect. This poll suggests that users from 18 to 55+ have very little hesitation in using social media to either promote or condemn a product or service by discussing their experiences. Not only are users prepared to share their experiences online, but what is more interesting are the numbers regarding how influential the opinions of people that are in their social media groups or friend lists actually are.

According to the numbers in the study, approximately 29% to 45% of people “agree” or “strongly agree” that their goal in offering opinions through social media is to influence their peers or groups. Additionally respondents answered that 69% to 76% believe that friends or family influence their decision to use or not use a particular company or product.

In a nutshell, this means that a third to half of people who participated in this study use social media to influence others and almost four out of five people say that the reviews of their friends or family via social media influence their use of a brand or company. What is additionally interesting is the decline in influence of celebrity endorsements which only yielded a maximum of 17% amongst 18 to 34 year olds (the youngest demographic polled) who believed reviews from celebrities influenced their use of a brand or company.  Another interesting finding is the influence strangers have via blogs or message boards. The study showed that 41% of 18 to 34 year old respondents were swayed by the opinions posted by people they don’t know on message boards or forums.

It therefore appears that brand monitoring and the management of the public perception of one’s company or products requires a much more proactive approach. It is imperative to manage the disappointment experienced by customers before they have an opportunity to share their negative experience with others. Applying the example of hospitality, the alternative to taking a proactive approach would be to allow an unhappy customer to express their negative experience on a message board such as tripadvisor.com or other third party services designed to provide additional revenue such as expedia.com or hotels.ca, which could potentially have a directly detrimental affect on a hotel’s bottom line.

With social media and internet reputation management becoming increasingly available, companies and brands can now take a more proactive approach. Being aware of a negative reputation is as crucial as taking the correct measures to address the potentially harmful affect on a brand or companies. However, it is also detrimental to pursue these matters incorrectly or too stringently. On certain occasions it is more effective to protect your brand or image by requesting that the individual or group remove content rather than taking immediate legal action to force the removal of content. The difficulty lays in how to sift through the thousands of blogs, forums and other social media outlets. This is where contracting the services of an internet management company would come into play. They are able to consult and advise a company on the most tried methods of gauging your brand or product’s online reputation.

Companies should consider creating their own social media best practices and training in-house employees to engage in conversations and respond to negative comments that could be indentified by a service such as social media monitoring. Some companies have taken the option of setting up social media groups and fan pages that are dedicated to their products and services as a proactive measure.

Regardless of the approach one takes to social media, it is here to stay. Be on top of the game to ensure that current and potential customers are getting the right message from your company directly. Don’t hide from negative criticism, but opt to engage your critics in a way that is mutually beneficial to all parties to ensure you are truly protecting your brand.