Cleaning Up a Social Media Crisis

Entrepreneur Michael Diamant faced a potentially disastrous situation during a recent office move when the transition to new phone and e-mail systems caused some technical difficulties and a lag in customer service response times. Frustrated customers posted a flurry of complaints on Facebook. But Diamant, the 43-year-old co-founder and chief executive of Skip Hop Inc., a baby-products company in New York City, acted quickly and took charge of the situation before it spun out of control.

“The first thing we did was temporarily have the marketing team help out with customer service,” he says. “Customers were personally contacted, and issues were promptly resolved. In the end, customers actually returned to Facebook to share their new positive experiences.”

Businesses have always had to manage customer complaints, but thanks to Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, YouTube, and the like, the negativity now spreads like wildfire. According to research from Beyond Philosophy, 40 percent of customers who complain also gripe on social media.

Mishandling a social media crisis has the potential to destroy a company’s hard-earned reputation. Consider Domino’s Pizza and the gross-out prank video of two employees violating various health codes while making sandwiches. The video went viral before Domino’s decided to respond, leaving customers questioning what really goes on in company kitchens.

“Consumers know their power, and they are going to reach out to social media when they have a complaint,” says Lori Jo Vest, co-author of Who’s Your Gladys? How to Turn Even the Most Difficult Customer into Your Biggest Fan. “Companies who look at this new reality as an opportunity and use it to proactively solve customer problems can end up transforming complaints into positive situations that result in stronger customer relationships.”

Customer frustrations will be shared and amplified. That’s a fact. But whether it’s one complaint or enough to create a major crisis, these tips will help you regain control, protect your integrity, and spin negative into positive:

• Respond within 24 hours: “When you give the situation immediate attention, showing the customer that you are paying attention, you are likely to turn things around pretty quickly,” says Diamant, whose company engages with its 10,000 combined Facebook and Twitter fans every day. “People just want to know that you are listening.” Post a courteous response; but keep it vague and deal with the issue offline via phone or e-mail. This shows that you’re listening but also removes the problem from the public arena and its millions of spectators.
• Analyze the problem: “Is the complaint truly constructive, and is this truly a distraught customer you are dealing with?” asks Shama Kabani, author of The Zen of Social Media Marketing, who warns of cyber bullies. If so, it’s time to win them over with top-notch customer service. “People realize that businesses make mistakes because they are run by human beings,” says Kabani. “They will judge you based on how you deal with a situation versus the situation itself.”
• Set the right tone: “Stodgy, boring corporate speak will not play well” when problems go viral on social media, says Lyn Mettler, founder of Step Ahead Inc., a Charleston, South Carolina, agency that develops and manages social media campaigns for businesses. “Be funny, be entertaining, and be willing to say you were wrong if you were. Remember the medium and respond accordingly.”
• Be visible: If the problem reaches a level where you can’t answer everyone individually, Mettler says personally responding to the original person who made the complaint is sufficient. Just make sure your genuine response is easy for customers and the media to find. Mettler advises you “share it once in a variety of ways: via a blog post, a video on YouTube, on your Facebook page, and on your Twitter account.”
• Don’t censor negative comments: Removing less-than-stellar opinions about your company only erodes customers’ trust. Instead, try to welcome legitimate criticisms. “A negative comment, when truly constructive, can be a great opportunity for the business to walk its talk,” says Kabani.

The opportunity is so great, in fact, you can create lifelong customers from it. “We’ve found that 90 percent of the negative reviews can be addressed and resolved and transform the negative relationship into a positive one, where the customer becomes a lasting and loyal advocate,” says Neal Creighton, CEO and co-founder of RatePoint, a company that helps small businesses manage their online reputations.

These tips work best if your business has already established a strong presence in social media. So encourage customers to share their happy experiences online, and make sure to offer a customer service platform on every social site that’s popular right now. If you’re just on Facebook, it’s time to get on Twitter, too. And make it a priority to monitor social chatter about your company. Kabani suggests setting up daily alerts through Social Mention. As Creighton says, “The more proactive [businesses] can get, the more successful they will be at building trust with their current and prospective customers.”

Charlotte Jensen is an internationally published journalist who specializes in business topics.