Responding to Negative

Social Media
AEM – May 16, 2011
• To avoid criticism, do nothing, say
nothing, be nothing.
– Elbert Hubbard
Word of Mouth . . . has always
been important
But now the stakes are much larger!
 Social Media – The Groundswell
• Social media is shifting the power from institutions to
the people. The Internet allows conversations to spread
at the speed of light around the globe. Web 2.0
technologies allow people with common interests to
connect.
14% of people trust ads*
78% trust consumer recommendations*
2/3rd of the economy is now influenced by personal
recommendations**
* Source: Nielson
** Source: McKinsey
 Primary Ways Companies Use Social
Media
• Customer relations – listening and interacting
• Research – what your customers are saying about you and your products
and services
• Brand advocacy -- developing emotional connections with customers and
super-charging their word-of-mouth
 Shifting from Talking to Listening
• Companies are still spending 80 to 90% of their marketing dollars on
brand awareness. They need to shift some resources from the top of the
purchase funnel to the bottom and below -- listening and spreading
positive word-of-mouth.
 The Consumer Decision Journey
• Marketers are over emphasizing the “consider” and “buy” stage.

• New Media make the “evaluate” and “advocate” stages increasingly important.

• Marketers must now consider “earned media” in addition to paid media. This
includes customer channels such as online forums, review sites, Facebook,
Twitter, etc.

Source: David Edelman, Harvard Business Review

 
The first step . . . Start listening. What are your
customers saying about you? Are most comments
positive or negative? Where are they saying it?
Facebook . . . Forums . . . Twitter?

Grow Big Ears!

 Online Listening Tools
Free Services:
Google Alerts http://www.google.com/alerts
Social Mention http://www.socialmention.com/
Ice Rocket http://www.icerocket.com/
Twitter Search http://search.twitter.com/advanced
BackType http://www.backtype.com/
Pay Services:
Radian6 http://www.radian6.com/
Alterian http://www.alterian.com/

 
 Listening and Interacting
Develop a procedure for handling online comments
– both negative and positive.

For positive:
it can be a simple “thank you” posted on Facebook
or Twitter . . .
to asking your advocates for testimonials, etc.

Caution: If you incentivize people to post positive

comments, you must be transparent.
W

Big Brand Tire & Service responses to positive Facebook posts.

For negative comments, an important step is
to categorize the type of comment:

• Straight Problems
• Constructive Criticism
• OrganizedAttack
• Spam
• Straight Problems – Someone has an issue
with your product or service and clearly
explains their complaint. This type of feedback
is certainly negative, but you can turn it into a
positive.
Also, if you have an issue, don’t you want to
be aware of it . . . ASAP.
• When dealing with Straight Problems, a
response is almost certainly necessary.
Whether that response is personal or a broad
public-facing message depends on the
situation and how widespread the problem is.

• Follow-up even if you don’t plan to correct.

• “Thanks for bringing it to our attention, but

here’s why we do it that way.”
• What Big Brand Tire & Service did right:
– Identified the comment as a “straight problem”
involving one customer.
– Responded on the same day.
– Responded publicly on Facebook wall but gave
customer phone number to take situation off-line.

Result:
Big Brand Tire is seen by all of its Facebook
followers as being responsive and concerned. Irate
customer posts a big “thank you” for everyone to
see.
• Constructive Criticism – Many consumers
today are using social media to provide
companies with helpful suggestions on how to
solve a particular problem. They can become
your biggest advocates if you show interest in
them.
• Constructive Criticism also requires a
response. Certainly you won’t want to or be
able to implement every suggestion, but a
response will build loyalty.

You want engaged consumers, someone who

cares – even if their message is not positive.
Let them and everyone know that you care
about their input.
• Organized Attack – This is where the
consumer goes beyond a post on your
Facebook wall . . .

. . . to actively spreading the word about a

negative experience through multiple posts,
utilization of multiple social media platforms,
etc.
• Organized Attacks are tougher to deal with.
Every situation is unique, but it is usually a
good idea to:
– respond to your antagonist, for the record, so your
online community will see that you are being
reasonable and responsive.
– Take the discussion off line if possible and try to
solve the person’s issue.
– If the attacks persist, assess what damage is being
done. Look into legal options. Follow crisis
communications procedures if necessary.
• Off-the-Wall Comments & Spam –
Occasionally you will come across comments
about your company that are totally irrelevant
or have no basis in fact whatsoever.

There’s also spammers that will try to use your

social media platforms to sell most anything
under the sun.
• It is almost always best not to respond to spam
or totally irrelevant comments.
– Ignore this variety of feedback, and when
appropriate, remove it as soon as you spot it.
– Install Twitter apps. to block spam.
 A Note About Vulgarity
• Vulgarity is never appropriate and should not
be tolerated.

• Ask the poster to remove the offensive words

and re-post. 95% of the time the individual
does not repost.
 United Breaks Guitars – Case Study
Musician Dave Carroll witnessed United Airlines baggage handlers throwing
around his guitar on the tarmac. He complained to United officials after
confirming that his guitar was broken.

After getting nowhere with United, Dave goes to YouTube and Twitter:
http://socialmediarisk.com/2010/03/case-study-united-airlines-loses-millions-
on-social-media/

What to do?
 What should have United done once
video was posted?
Take it offline with customer.
React quickly!

What did they do?

Waited a week before responding.
Video had 7 million views.
United stock plunged 10%.
Stockholders lost $180 million in equity.
 Domino’s Employee Misbehavior:
Case Study
Employees Kristy and Michael made some short videos doing some rather
unappetizing things to food they were preparing for delivery.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=b73_1239778209
The videos spread on YouTube like wildfire. Domino’s sales fell nationwide.
 What did Domino’s do?
Domino’s was monitoring social media 24/7.

They responded quickly . . . within 2 days. Same day or next day would have
been better!

They used the same medium in which they were attacked, posting their own
YouTube videos featuring the CEO.

The situation stabilized.

 In Summary
Monitor what is being said about your company online . . . Using
free services (i.e., Google Alerts, Twitter Search) and/or paid
services such as Radian6.

Develop internal procedures for responding to both positive and

negative comments.

Ensure that your crisis communications plan addresses online

reputation issues and is nimble enough to handle them.
 Resources
• http://socialmediagovernance.com/policies.php

• http://www.facebook.com/JTMarComMarketi
ng
• http://mashable.com/social-media/

• http://www.casestudiesonline.com/
 JTMarCom
• Christine Taylor, V/P Digital Marketing
• christine@jtmar.com
615-714-5469 cell
Twitter http://twitter.com/chrisgtaylor
LinkedIn
http://www.linkedin.com/in/christinegtaylor