I want to discuss a topic that marketers fear about social media. They are afraid that people will leave negative comments on the sites. Today, people are increasingly utilizing social media to express their experience with a companies service or product. It can be either negative or positive comments. Its been proven that people are more likely to talk about their positive experiences (bloggers are 6x more likely to write positively about brands--power point notes), but businesses beware: becasue social media IS a way people can communicate a negative experience as well as positive. We all have seen examples used in class. The most common example I think of is of this singer that made a creative youtube video where united breaks his guitar. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo
You may be wondering why this topic came to my mind. My recent experience involves using vactionrentals.com. We used this site to rent a house in Fort Lauderdale, FL for spring break a week ago. The site allows private renters advertise their houses. you can see pictures and descriptions and contact information. The house we choose had false advertisement. It said the house had a heated pool-- NO, pretty sure I recieved a cold after jumping in. The advertisement also said the house was located only a mile from the beach--No, it was atleast 3 miles away. We discovered these notions upon arrival. After the week, the landland tried depositing our deposit, and displayed unprofessional conduct leaving inappropreiate messages on my friends phone. He took our whole $1000 deposit for a slight burn mark from a hair straightener, then shut off his phone and all contact with us. What I then precided to do was check the reviews, which are only viewable ever so often. There were several other similar complaints made. My friend that booked the reservations said that until the week of spring break, the reviews were not available to see. Can the renter control the views or does vacationrentals.com have a gliche in their system? Either way allowing a negative renter advertise on their site reflects bad on vactionrentals. We have already decided that we are going to politely post a negative review on the site to communcate our experience to other renters.
My opinion, I definately want people to communicate bad and good experiences on social media sites. This is an opprotunity for businesses getting negative feedback to improve their services, and consumers get the information and make great choices.
WARNING TO BLOGGERS: Dont burn bridges and stay completely professional, even during a negative post. There are always classy ways to deliver ugly messages. Don't be scared to embrace and contribute to advertising and posting on social media sites with both good and bad exepriences.
I was very surprised that people would comment on positive topics rather than negative. After I heard that in class I looked back at my tweets and comments, I found that I also tweeted about good experiences as well. When I do come across a negative Tweet or Facebook comment I usually remember it and think of that when I come in counter with that company. I don't think companies can waste time being worried about what others will say unless there are things that need to be revaluated within their company. Social media is moving too fast for people to set and thinking about joining in.
ReplyDeleteIm so sorry to hear about your horrible experience! This is a very true subject that employers should be aware of. At work, we keep both the positive and the negative comments posted on our website. We hope that by even keeping the negative experience viewable by our potential customers, they will see that we take each comment with concern and ensure customer satisfaction. A negative comment is followed by a call from our customer service team offering some sort of incentive for future purchases.
ReplyDeleteTherefore, this could become an asset to a firm because they have first insight on the problems or the lack of logistics that are within their business. Great Post!