“Certainly, if you leave your details I’ll ask someone to call you back.”
We’ve all heard it, and we’ve all waited for an unacceptable amount of time for that call, before ringing again, by now in a slightly less reasonable mood than the first time round. This irritation is how people feel when their question goes unanswered on Facebook or Twitter. And rightly so.
The social media boom of 2011 has left a lot of consumers disillusioned, angry and frustrated, and the likes of Facebook clogged up with incomplete, disengaging and frankly irritating business pages that offer nothing more than an abandoned forum complete with unfulfilled promise. Ask a question or make a complaint in these barren lands and you’ll be waiting for a very long time for an answer, irritation growing by the minute.
And it really is by the minute, because people expect businesses and organisations to respond quickly, immediately, within the hour at the very longest (think how quickly you’d expect an answer from a friend you had texted about meeting for a drink after work). Particularly if they’ve actively joined the social media movement, otherwise why bother? And when they don’t answer (read: empathise), there’s a very real chance that damaging opinions of uncaring corporations will be formed, and we all know that bad reputations are very hard to shake and loyalty even harder to win back.
According to a recent survey conducted by YouGov, in which 2,000 people were polled, and 40 brands analysed, a measly 7.5% (three) scored more than zero for their customer service on social media channels. The rest scored zero. This statistic speaks for itself, and should remind the world’s business owners and marketing managers that social media is a powerful tool that can both make and break ideas, win and lose customers. Whether you win or lose is entirely in your hands.
Remember that it’s better to politely decline an invitation to go to a party where you won’t like anyone, than it is to go, be seen and then leave without talking to anyone.
Ask yourself this:
- 44% of people polled said they interact with brands online in a quest for information – is your website giving people what they need?
- ¼ of adults in the UK share information online about products they buy – are you maximising the huge potential of these reviews?
- 20% of adults online discuss their views on brands – are you listening to the wealth of free feedback on your business?
If you’d like to discuss our social media services in more detail please don’t hesitate to contact us on 020 7593 4014.
