{"id":26828,"date":"2017-05-18T13:45:34","date_gmt":"2017-05-18T17:45:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/?p=26828"},"modified":"2023-03-11T20:07:08","modified_gmt":"2023-03-12T00:07:08","slug":"4-effective-strategies-handling-social-media-complaints","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/2017\/4-effective-strategies-handling-social-media-complaints\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Effective Strategies for Handling Social Media Complaints"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Social media is a double-edged sword. We love it because it gives everyone a platform and a voice, but it also enables bad news and bad press to travel farther, faster. Managing social media presence for a company can be a fine line to walk, because you have to be careful not to offend or misconstrue, and always represent your brand effectively.<\/p>\n<p>However, you can&#8217;t be afraid of social media. Don&#8217;t walk away from platforms like Twitter and Facebook because of complaints and bad reviews. Instead, look at these situations as a chance to re-engage with your audience and bring them closer than ever before. If you learn to manage it correctly, social media can be a huge positive for your brand, especially if you deal with complaints effectively. Here&#8217;s four of our favorite strategies for handling social media complaints.<\/p>\n<h3>Prepare for the worst<\/h3>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-26832 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/assets\/wpid-american-airlines-social-media-negative-feedback-fail.png\" alt=\"wpid-american-airlines-social-media-negative-feedback-fail\" width=\"549\" height=\"370\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 549px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 549\/370;\" \/><br \/>\n<em>Examples Of The Good, The Bad &amp; The Ugly Of Customer Service On Social Media!<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Expect that the negative review or social media comment is a question of &#8220;when,&#8221; not &#8220;if.&#8221; Brainstorm with your team to figure out how to handle these situations before they happen, and set the process. Generally, your response should include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A &#8220;thank you&#8221; to the customer for their opinion<\/li>\n<li>An apology for the inconvenience or the problem(s)<\/li>\n<li>A request for them to send you a private message, if the problem should be solved in real-time<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Try to respond to these types of messages within 15 minutes or, if that&#8217;s not possible, under an hour. And don&#8217;t over-formalize any of it. Remember, this is social media \u2014 you can keep it short and sweet.<\/p>\n<p>Also, don&#8217;t forget to follow up and fix the problem. A great way to gain word-of-mouth recognition is to go the extra mile for customers who may feel wronged and offer them a gift or a discount. If you need help managing and responding to reviews, take a look at reputation management software.<\/p>\n<h3>Take it offline<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.inc.com\/marla-tabaka\/how-to-handle-negative-feedback-in-social-media-like-a-pro.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-26833 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/assets\/how-to-handle-negative-feedback-in-social-media-like-a-pro.jpg\" alt=\"how-to-handle-negative-feedback-in-social-media-like-a-pro\" width=\"970\" height=\"450\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/assets\/how-to-handle-negative-feedback-in-social-media-like-a-pro.jpg 970w, https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/assets\/how-to-handle-negative-feedback-in-social-media-like-a-pro-768x356.jpg 768w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 970px) 100vw, 970px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 970px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 970\/450;\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<em>How to Handle Negative Feedback in Social Media Like a Pro<\/em><\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s easy for text to be taken the wrong way or misconstrued. A customer might misunderstand your tone, or you might have an explanation that needs more than 140 characters. For these reasons, the right thing to do after identifying a social media complaint might be to take it offline and ask them to call you or email you instead.<\/p>\n<p>Having a customer reach out over phone or email also lets your trained customer service reps respond, rather than asking your social media manager to.<\/p>\n<p>There are even technologies out there that help empower your customer support center to respond directly to complaints on social media. Omni-channel platforms let reps in a cloud contact center engage with social channels. For example, cloud contact center software can be used for inbound and outbound calling, including omni-channel features that allow customer service reps to track customer complaints received via social media.<\/p>\n<h3>Know your audience<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.searchenginejournal.com\/seo-guide\/know-your-audience\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-26834 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/assets\/seo-guide-marketing-feedback-know-your-audience.jpg\" alt=\"seo-guide-marketing-feedback-know-your-audience\" width=\"760\" height=\"400\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 760px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 760\/400;\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<em>How to Know Your Audience to Master Your Marketing Campaigns<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Figure out why your customer is complaining in order to address their concerns properly. When most people complain, it&#8217;s because they want to be heard more than anything. If you are a person who cares enough to listen, then in many cases, that&#8217;s all that they need. You should make a point to respond to the majority of your feedback, especially pressing and constructive feedback. If you&#8217;ve made a mistake, always be courteous and make it up to the person who left a complaint. You can manage that by apologizing and offering a solution to their specific concern.<\/p>\n<p>In the case that the situation is beyond any mediation and someone is too unreasonable and antagonistic, opt out of continuing the conversation. There&#8217;s a huge difference between negative feedback and trolling.<\/p>\n<p>If you&#8217;re ever worried that people may abuse your customer service, you can publicly tell them you&#8217;ll make it up to them, contact them privately and keep the details about the remediation private. It&#8217;s important that people see that you responded and handled the situation, but they don&#8217;t need to know the details.<\/p>\n<h3>Be sincere<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/2pPJTuF\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-26835 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/assets\/No-Bullshit-Social-Media-The-All-Business-No-Hype-Guide-to-Social-Media-Marketing.png\" alt=\"No Bullshit Social Media The All-Business No-Hype Guide to Social Media Marketing\" width=\"347\" height=\"453\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 347px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 347\/453;\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<em>No Bullshit Social Media: The All-Business, No-Hype Guide to Social Media Marketing<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Genuinely try to solve your customer&#8217;s problem. Don&#8217;t give a passive-aggressive apology that attacks your customer&#8217;s expectations, like, &#8220;Our company has been supplying our product to our customers for 100 years. We&#8217;re sorry that your experience did not match your expectations.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Remember that every company and every customer is different. And every reason for a bad review is unique. Every time you or one of your employees responds to a complaint, use common sense, courtesy and a genuine desire to help your customers turn a conflict into a positive experience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Social media is a double-edged sword. We love it because it gives everyone a platform and a voice, but it also enables bad news and bad press to travel farther,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26829,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[109,615],"tags":[3939,626,5243,5907,5864,5891,6103,4516,6286,6054,4803,6503,988,5956,686,5892,3863,4515,1205,4299,628,6347,115],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>4 Effective Strategies for Handling Social Media Complaints<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Social media is a double-edged sword. 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