Week 3 Part A: Communication- Business & Consumer
As American's we consume products and services! It is just our nature but as part of the process of gathering and consuming products and services, we also have a level of satisfaction that we need fulfilled: communication. We need to feel that the businesses we support with our hard earned money value us as there customers. Communication between the business and consumer is one of the most important aspects to having a successful organization.
I have had experiences in the past when I found it difficult to communicate my issues with a business. Most of my experiences have to do with customer service, or how the employees at the establishment have treated me. I felt like I wasn't being heard! I think social media is the best thing when it comes to getting heard and your problem solved. I have seen many people on social media use it as a platform to try to communicate with a business. It makes it easier and less stressful for the consumer and employees (because often the employees cannot solve the problem). The communication with businesses over social media isn't always bad. There have been many times when I have been excited about a product or service and I gave the company a shout out on social media. Most of the time the company replies promptly with gratitude. It feels good to the customer because they felt heard and appreciated back. Even though it is over the web, our communications with businesses is more meaningful then if you complimented the business right in front of them because it steers new customers to them.
If my business was on social media, I would respond promptly to both positive and negative reviews. For the positive comments, I would reply to each person with a nice thank you. This is great for promoting your business further and showing your gratitude to your customers. For negative comments, I would attempt to address there issues if they had one. For the people who are just negative and not addressing something specific, I would leave alone. There are bound to be those who just do not like your company and that is okay!
I have had experiences in the past when I found it difficult to communicate my issues with a business. Most of my experiences have to do with customer service, or how the employees at the establishment have treated me. I felt like I wasn't being heard! I think social media is the best thing when it comes to getting heard and your problem solved. I have seen many people on social media use it as a platform to try to communicate with a business. It makes it easier and less stressful for the consumer and employees (because often the employees cannot solve the problem). The communication with businesses over social media isn't always bad. There have been many times when I have been excited about a product or service and I gave the company a shout out on social media. Most of the time the company replies promptly with gratitude. It feels good to the customer because they felt heard and appreciated back. Even though it is over the web, our communications with businesses is more meaningful then if you complimented the business right in front of them because it steers new customers to them.
If my business was on social media, I would respond promptly to both positive and negative reviews. For the positive comments, I would reply to each person with a nice thank you. This is great for promoting your business further and showing your gratitude to your customers. For negative comments, I would attempt to address there issues if they had one. For the people who are just negative and not addressing something specific, I would leave alone. There are bound to be those who just do not like your company and that is okay!
Hey Savannah!
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you on the last paragraph and thats something I should have mentioned in my blog as well; There will always be people who will simply put people and their businesses down for no good reason and I feel what you said is a great way to go about it. Also, if someone complains, I would just take it as constructive criticism because in a business there is always areas for improvement!
Thanks for sharing.
It's beyond important to take the comments of the customers to heart, as long as they are constructive, like Lorena mentioned. We can't always know what's best and we also can't make everyone happy, but it's important to learn how to grow without making things entirely personal.
ReplyDeleteSavannah, I enjoyed reading your post, and totally agree! Before the wave of Social media and review sites businesses didn't respect the customers opinion. Now they have too! I also like what you mentioned about the customer feeling appreciated. I believe that's why social Media marketing is so successful, because of the "community" feel it brings to companies.
ReplyDeleteYou are right Savannah, communication between customer and business is so important that can make the business grow or fail. I think if companies have social media then they should stay connected and reply back to customers posts.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your point when you mentioned Social Media can allow you to get your voice heard.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. Businesses that address the negative comments and "own up" to the mistake are viewed more favorably by potential customers.
ReplyDeleteThere will always be the haters. But as a business owner I would at least try to always try to respond so those reading the reviews would know that as a business owner I tried to make the situation correct or try to clarify it.
ReplyDelete