How Social Media Can Kill Company Reputations

It is no secret that most reputable companies that use online social media simply dread negative stories being posted about them. Once these customer stories go viral, it is virtually impossible to get rid of them. And, as more people read these negative stories, the more likely it is that a company will suffer in some way or another. While there are many issues that consumers can post about concerning a company’s performance, one of the most popular has to do with customer service.Recent studies have shown that nearly forty-seven percent of all social media users have turned to their networks to request customer service from a company. For those in the age group of 18-24, the rate goes up to 59 percent, according to a study from NM Incite. Nearly a third of social media users report that they preferred to contact a particular company via social media venues. As one might expect, savvy companies are learning one of the best ways to respond is to do so in a similar fashion. There are some good reasons for this.

source: campus safety magazine.com

The report suggests that seventy-one percent of those (users/customers) who were able to get a quick and effective response were most likely to recommend that particular company to other people. For those who did not receive a quick response, the rate fell to a mere 19 percent. It should be noted that this is a major change in how consumers respond to companies. Just a few years ago, it was thought that social media-based customer service was a niche channel best suited to only a handful of certain types of businesses such as seen in the tech sector. That line of thinking has since been demolished. Virtually all types of companies, from banking to bakeries, are now using social media as a viable way of communicating with their customers and clients. The downside is that those same customers and clients are able to communicate back when they perceive that they have not been treated fairly or within a reasonable amount of time.

source: mission mode

It doesn’t take a marketing genius to understand how important customer service is today when negative comments can so readily be applied to any type of company. Negative comments can result in lost sales and may even result in downgrading of search engine status. It is important to keep in mind that social media postings, whether they are negative in nature or positive, are virtually immediate in most cases. Posting on social media networks is also easy and the vast majority of social media users are very familiar with the in’s and out’s of posting. It should also be noted that many social media outlets have millions of users and while not all users will see a negative posting, many of them will. As any business owner who runs a social media venue can see, treating customer service requests quickly and efficiently is the only sure way to reduce negative comments.

Remember, anytime a customer brings a problem to an online customer service department, that customer is not just sharing that information with the company’s internal personnel, but is also often sharing that information with the page’s public as well. When people see a positive response to a customer service issue, they take that as a good sign.