The Right Way to Respond on Social Media
Filed Under Social Marketing
When you use social media to market your business, you are going to encounter a lot of questions and comments from customers. Many will be positive, but there will also be a lot of negative ones. Knowing how to handle each circumstance through your online responses can mean the difference between keeping a good reputation or developing a bad one.
Here are a few tips on how to properly handle any online interactions in order to uphold your brand and build a stronger relationship with your customers.
Always respond as the brand.
As with all online communication, you want to be speaking through the voice of your brand. This means staying consistent. If you are relaxed and plain-speaking, then make sure you respond in the same way. You want people to know that they are hearing from the brand and not just a random intern stuck handling the Facebook account on weekends.
Always respond to requests for support and questions.
Not every comment requires a response, but when you see a customer reaching out to you for help, it is important that you take the time to let them know they are being heard by you. This is especially true if a customer has a troubleshooting issue with one of your products. If you can help guide them through their problem quickly, that will make a huge impression, not just on the customer you helped but also with the potential customers who are seeing your responses.
Respond only when it makes sense.
You don’t have to respond to every comment or retweet every tweet that mentions your brand. If you see stellar praise about your company in a tweet then go ahead and re-tweet it for others to see. If you see an aggressive comment from someone who has not been a customer, then there is no reason to engage with them online.
Be prepared.
If you start seeing a pattern in the types of comments or tweets being posted to your brand online, then it is good to have a plan in place so you can respond quickly and appropriately. Have a social media specialist monitor your accounts during peak times and be alert for questions and comments. If there are a lot of frequently asked questions, have a link ready to send to customers that will take them directly to the answer they are looking for.
Accept that you can’t please everybody.
There are always going to be those people who don’t want you to make things better. They just aren’t happy unless they are making others miserable and social media is their outlet. These are the people who try to pick fights, leave overly-aggressive comments, and say everything they can for the sake of riling others to respond negatively. Learn to just take a deep breath and scroll past those people. Engaging with them will only fuel the fire.
Learning the right way to respond to people on social media is a lesson that will help make your marketing strategies a success. Find a routine that works best for you, be prepared to handle what comes, and always speak from the brand.
How do you respond to negativity on your social networks?
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Dawn Pigoni, IVAA Member
