The wrong way to approach social marketing is to just use it to “get the word out.” Social media is not a one way street, it is advertising as a dialogue rather than as a monologue. Where a lot of large retailers are having trouble this is : they are approaching social media marketing like any other form of marketing, they are still stuck in the old way of doing things. Today’s marketing environment is one where the customer’s word is just as precious, and sometimes more so, than the retailer’s.
The days of covering up our faults are in the past, today we deal with them. Nowadays, anyone can go on the Internet and find a negative review of that new product or that unsanitary restaurant. The customers are doing a lot of our marketing for us, and that marketing is not always favorable. Social media is not another platform from which to grandstand and make big boasts, it is a social hub where we can engage with the public. The retailers will take advantage and make the most of this opportunity.
Addressing Criticism
One of the best things that we can do with the Internet is actually address criticism head-on. The wrong way to do this is to get snippy about it. Too many times have marketers and business owners engaged the public in argument, and it is always awkward and it never helps.
The correct way to employ the criticism is to maturely and address it openly. What did this customer not enjoy about his or her shopping experience? What could you do to make their next visit better?
Some customers just like the attention that comes with being righteously angry at something, and that will become clear to others if they reject your call for constructive comments. Your job is to determine which complaints are worth addressing and to address them in such a way to let the public know: no business is perfect, but you are striving towards that end every day.
Let Your Customers do the Talking
Trading “likes” for free app downloads and so on is not the worst way to get customers talking about you in social marketing, but the best way to do it is to make them want to talk about you for their own reasons. Because it was a really fun movie, not for free items on the internet people got talking about The Avengers.
If you give your customers a great experience and a place to talk about it, then they may be willing to do just that.
