Social Media
Social Media & Non-Profits: How Can We Get Millennials to Give?
With the rise of social media, social causes and charities seem to be more prominent and important than every before. It seems like every time I scroll though my newsfeed, I am learning about a new Go Fund Me campaign for a family or a fundraiser to raise money for Angels Among Us Pet Rescue. As a millennial, I am very interested in these causes; I often learn about them because my friends have shared them. Could it be that that there are there more charities that exist now than what existed before? Or do we see these posts so often because millennials are more charitable than other generations? Perhaps there is just a different way that millennials choose to go about donating. If social media is a main pillar of communication and community for millennials, it would make sense that they would choose to learn about causes and donate through social media. Research also shows that in 2014, people between the ages of 16 and 24 gave the second highest amount to charity. We can thank social media and the Ice Bucket Challenge for that (Targeting Millennials).
Since 1971, charitable donations have consistently made up anywhere between 1.7% and 2.3% of America’s Gross Domestic Product (American Press Institute). Although it seems like we are being more charitable, we’re really not. Perhaps the perception that we are becoming more charitable is based on what we are exposed to more charitable efforts on social media? Are we sharing these fund-raising posts but not really donating any money to them? If this is indeed the case, I believe that the percentage of donations will soon increase, as millennials gain more spending power and make up a larger percentage of the market and as marketers for these charitable orgianizations are understanding how to use social media to reach out to the millennial audience.
Who are these millennials and what do they care about? The term millennial refers to individuals that were born between 1980 and 2000. According to Millennial Marketing, this demographic group represents 25% of the U.S. Population and accounts for 21% of consumer discretionary purchases. While some older generations often may consider this group to be self-centered, lazy, and disrespectful, common positive demographic traits for this group includes being open minded, supportive of others, and receptive to new and different ideas. This group of individuals also purchases products differently than other generations; they truly put their money where their mouth is. In fact, over 50% of millennials are more willing to make a purchase from a company if that company supports a cause that they cared about (ex: animal and homeless shelter donations). What does that mean for brands? Brands that support more than just making profits are more appealing to millennials. The Millennial Marketing study also states that 37% of millennials are willing to purchase products and services that support causes that they believe in, even if that means paying more money. This group also grew up with technology and are social media savvy. They have smart phones and keep up with the latest news on channels like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Periscope, and SnapChat. What does this mean for marketers and advertisers? How does this affect the marketing techniques for brands, especially those that include millennials in their target demographic? Does this have an overall effect on charitable donations? Some brands are really taking notice and are adjusting their brand strategies and marketing techniques accordingly.
The fast food brand, Wendy’s creates their marketing strategy with millennials in mind. Have you noticed that in the majority of their television ads, they feature millennials? They also have one of the most dynamic and engaging social media presences out of all of the fast food giants. The brand is fun and people want to engage. One of their recent integrated marketing campaigns, #ShareforAdoption, takes a product that they sell (soft drinks) and allows customers to take action on social media in order to raise money for a charity- The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. Every time a customer takes a photo with the Wendy’s cup and shares it on social media using #ShareforAdoption, Wendy’s donates $5 to the charity. Why would you not want to do that?! It literally only takes ten seconds to raise $5 for a charity. As a millennial, I couldn’t imagine not taking a few seconds to help support this cause and share it with my friends in hopes that they support the cause as well.
During an interview, I asked a 20-year old college student, Sierra Nolan, how she felt about the promotion- “I think it’s great that Wendy’s is donating money for adoption. I actually don’t eat at Wendy’s too often, but because I saw on Instagram what Wendy’s was doing, I actually stopped by there for lunch one day last week with a few of my friends. We needed to eat lunch anyways, so why not help give to charity when I do.” Her comments resembled what studies have been saying about millennials and how they choose to purchase products. If you look on social media, there are thousands and thousands of posts from Wendy’s customers responding to this promotion. The brand as a whole is being shared on social media and is being discussed within social circles, including on college campuses. This is a great example of how the forward thinking by Wendy’s marketing team has increased the digital footprint and popularity of the brand among millennials.
Another brand that really appeals to the charitable side of millennials is Toms. Since it’s initiation, Toms shoes has pledged to give a pair of shoes to a child in need for every pair of shoes that they sell. This “one for one” philosophy has made the brand successful and a well-known brand among millennials. Toms also created “A Day Without Shoes” which occurs May 21st every year. On this day, people are encouraged to go barefoot for the day to realize how difficult life would be if you couldn’t afford to wear shoes. Also during this day, many Toms retailers offer a big promotion to help promote these shoes. Hashtags #oneforone and #adaywithoutshoes will be trending on social media, as millennials are sharing photos of them participating in this social cause. Wearing Toms is the cool thing to do because it supports a bigger cause. The shoes are really expensive, in my opinion, for what they are (canvas and a flat sole), but that doesn’t stop millions of millennials from wearing them. Toms also has a collegeate product line, allowing you to purchase shoes in your school colors. I have purchased at last three pairs myself. Because of this success, Toms has branched out to include sunglasses, jewelry, and small accessories. They also support other “one for one” businesses on their website and social media pages.
In addition to large, multi-million dollar brands like Wendy’s and Toms, smaller start-up organizations are better understanding millennials and are taking the qualities they value into consideration when creating a company and the associated marketing message. The video below discusses a start-up brand, Karma-52. This online-based company sells products to benefit charity. For each product sold, $7.52 is donated to the specific charity of the week. These products include t-shirts, hats, jackets, and pet clothes. Wearing apparel that supports causes seems more important today than wearing top name brands. Brands like Karma-52 build their entire business model around millennials.
Other companies are choosing to run sales promotions where the company donates to a charity for every purchase of a participating product. Is giving to charity more important than receiving a discount off the product or a free item with purchase? One thing is for sure, marketers are going to have to shift their marketing strategy and perhaps their business model in order to stay relevant and accommodate the needs and qualifications of the millennial buyer. This includes being up to date on all the newest technology and social media platforms. You have to be where you customers are. Because of social media, they are able to dictate when, where, and how they hear from your brand.
What do all of these brands have in common? Are these products cheap? No. Are these products made with top quality materials? Maybe not. The key is that these brands are appealing to the millennial generation and making it easy for these individuals to feel that they are making a contribution to society. These brands are being successful in the marketplace because they are understanding their customer base. We know that charity is important to millennials. So is social media communication and a sense of community. These brands have realized this and capitalized on these realities to promote their brand and increase their business. I feel that more and more brands will follow suit in the weeks and months to come.
For more information and additional resources, please visit the following sites:
- http://www.americanpressinstitute.org/publications/reports/survey-research/millennials-social-media/
- https://philanthropy.com/article/The-Stubborn-2-Giving-Rate/154691
- http://www.cnbc.com/id/100689671
- http://www.grizzard.com/targeting-millennials/
- http://www.millennialmarketing.com/who-are-millennials/
Why are Other Brands More Popular than Yours on Social Media?
Why are some social media pages really successful while others are just mediocre? According to Newswhip, stories that were posted on PlayBuzz’s Facebook page were shared over 10 million times and posts that were made on BBC’s Twitter page were tweeted over 4.5 million times. Looking at these stats, there is a clear separation between the top pages on Facebook and Twitter and the pages that follow. What makes PlayBuzz and BBC’s posts so popular and shareable? What are they doing that sets them apart from other popular social media pages?
(Source: PlayBuzz Facebook Page)
PlayBuzz is an entertainment website. Literally, they whole objective of their Facebook page is to entertain people (it even says so in their title). Their page is full of mind-less quizzes that help you take your mind off of work and reality. Cause after all, you really want to know what kind of pet you would be if you were an animal. These quizzes are fun and engaging. People that take them want to share their results and because of this, end up sharing PlayBuzz’s post. It’s really the snowball effect on social media and people wanting a break from reality that makes PlayBuzz the most shareable page on Facebook. In addition to these sharable mind-less quizzes, there are a few feel-good stories that are sprinkled in that pulls at our heartstrings (think babies and puppies) that we read, love, and want to share with our friends. Facebook is designed for sharing stories and PlayBuzz really has a knack for creating shareable pieces of content.
(Source: BBC Twitter Page)
Twitter, however, is more of a news-sharing site than an entertainment site. The BBC’s Twitter page is full of both breaking and general news stories, with posts being made an average of ten to twelve times per day (many of these are retweets). One thing that sets the BBC’s twitter page apart from other top news organizations on Twitter is the huge variety of content that is posted on the pages. Unlike other news sites, the BBC seems to focus on a much larger demographic set than some of its competitors. You see everything from vines of whales jumping out of the water to pop culture photos and stories to breaking news to weather reports. The BBC also leverages associated channels such as @BBCweather, @BBCsport, and @BBCiPlayer to tweet and retweet. This way, they are reaching a larger audience. In my opinion, the large amount of sister Twitter pages that the BBC has greatly contributes to their ability to reach and engage with a large audience.
How can we take what the market leaders are doing and put these into practice for our brands? We can start by identifying what our audience likes to do when they are not at work. Even though the social media accounts that you manage may be very product and business related, we can’t forget that the people that we do business with still want to be entertained. They don’t want products to constantly be pushed at them. They want to have a little fun, read an interesting story and see some great photos. If we can make them related to our brand, even better! The point of social media is to be social and entertaining. If a brand can do that for its customers, they will be more successful on social media in the long run. Don’t forget that it’s ok to have posts that are not directly related to your brand. If your target audience is interested in those types of posts, it will serve your brand well.
Extra, Extra! Tweet All About It!
It’s safe to say that social media has drastically changed the field of journalism and how we communicate on a day-to-day basis. We no longer have to wait for the evening news or for the newspaper deliveryman to toss a paper on our doorstep. As individuals, the rise of social media means big changes in the way that we receive and interact with our news. We can choose what we want to engage with and when we want to engage. Try and think about the rise and evolution of social media from a journalists or newscasters perspective. There really wasn’t many changes made to the news industry for a few decades prior to the social media explosion. If print is still making money, why would journalists care about social media? After all, if they are still making money doing what they have been doing for decades, does it really matter if they engage with social or not? While not engaging with their audiences on social media may not mean imminent death to many of these individuals, there are some great benefits to using social media that will help these professionals gain a leg up on the competition.
How or why should you use social media as a foreign news correspondent?
- Allows you to connect with other news correspondents globally
- Allows for quicker transfer of information
- Position yourself as a thought leader for your country on a global scale
- Interact with citizen journalists and be among the first to break global news in your country
How or why should you use social media as a local beat editor?
- Allows you to know what your local audience is doing (watching trending hashtags)- what is important to them at this moment?
- Ask your audience what they want to hear! Conduct polls and get the pulse of your audience
- Build your brand on social media and encourage more listeners to your station- tease them on social media with upcoming segments
- Allow your audience to be engaged with your brand- you need to create brand advocates!
How or why should you use social media as a cameraman at a TV news station?
- Build a following and share behind the scenes photos from your news station- we know that people love behind the scenes footage
- Create a personality for your self as the cameraman and talk about upcoming features that you have shot
- Document pieces of your work and build your online brand on social media
Social media is constantly growing and changing. Some may not like change, but it is here. You have to build yourself as a brand and engage with your audience. It’s no longer about how great of a story you have- it’s about who sees that story and how they choose to engage with it!
Journalists & Social Media: Embrace the Responsibility like Russ Spencer!
First, I want to start this post out by stating that I am first and foremost a marketer. While I do dabble in content marketing, I am by no means a journalist. SO as I am writing this post, I feel that because I am a marketer, I am looking at the content through more of a marketing lens than from a journalistic standpoint. With that being said, there is a lot of marketing involved in journalism and vice versa. Social media has allowed journalists to have more direct contact with the audiences they are trying to reach and these audiences have more options regarding how and when they want to receive these news stories. Journalists now have to take social media into account in order to be relevant, as the audience may not be tuning into the 6 o’clock news cast on their televisions anymore.
One example of a journalists who I feel really embraces this responsibility is Russ Spencer of Fox5 News Atlanta. According to his Facebook profile, Russ began his career in journalism in 1983 after he graduated from Princeton University. In 1995, he started in career with Fox5 in Atlanta and has been here ever since. When I was growing up, I remember my Dad watching Fox5 every night and seeing Russ Spencer. I honestly never remember watching the news without him being there! To me, he has always been the face of Fox5. In the past 20 years that Russ has been at Fox5, there have been a lot of changes occur in journalism, including the one that I feel is most important- the rise and evolution of social media.
Russ is my favorite journalist to follow on social media because I feel like he appropriately and effectively uses social media to enhance his journalism. For example, he will use Facebook and Twitter to start a conversation about a news story that he will be talking about on the TV broadcast. During the broadcast, he will even mention what some of his followers on social media have been saying about the subject. I feel like this adds to the story and gives a broader perspective regarding the opinions of the views. When I comment on his stories, he is really good about responding and I feel that he genuinely listens to my perspective. This has created a more engaging and interactive form of journalism in my opinion.
I also feel that social media has helped make journalists more relatable. Although a majority of Russ’s articles are about news stories and hot topics, there are also several posts that are more personal. These posts, which include photos of his daughter Ella and his family help me relate to him. I feel like by showing this human element, I am able to trust him more and be more interested in the stories that he has to share. I follow many other journalists and have found that I am less interested in the ones who don’t show their personal side like Russ does. Good job, Russ!
An Ad-Free Social Network: Say Ello!
Have you heard of Ello? Although it’s still in beta version, it’s one of the upcoming social networks that’s creating a stir. As we become more aware of social media advertising and marketers keep spending more and more money on promoting their message on social media, Ello’s creators have promised to not data mine, meaning no advertising to users on the site. Ello has agreed to never make money from selling ads, nor will it profit from selling user data. Is this too good to be true? How will users adopt the site? Although you can only access the site by invitation, the notion of an ad-free network is appealing to many.
Whether or not the channel actually plays out and becomes a large social media network, I feel that it will change the expectation for other social media sites. Ello plans on making money by selling widgets and apps that will allow users to customize their profile. While I am against having to pay to access a social media site, I would be apt to being able to have a free profile and then adding on as needed. This will give marketers the opportunity to fully customize their site and make it a destination for their audience. Instead of pushing ads to consumers, marketers will need to hone in on what is important to their audience and make their Ello page engaging, entertaining, and relevant, forcing marketers to rely on content resources instead of just increasing their budgets.
As Ello grows in popularity, other social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter will have to take Ello’s ad-free stance into consideration. Just like capitalism, if consumers are wanting what Ello is offering as opposed to what Facebook and Twitter are offering, these sites will decrease in popularity and will have to make changes in order to keep with what the audience is demanding.
While I think that the ad-free concept is great, I am not completely convinced on how people will respond to having to purchase widgets and apps for their profile. Because we are so accustomed to not paying anything in order to be a part of social networking sites, that will be an adjustment. Personally, unless the widgets are really cool and really cheap (less than a dollar), I don’t think I would want to purchase any. If the majority of users on the site are not willing to purchase these widgets and Ello has already agreed to be ad-free and not sell data mining, Ello will have to find new ways to be profitable. I feel like this is a make or break for the channel. I don’t feel like we will really know what the site until it is out of beta mode. Ello is doing a good thing by bringing up the idea of an ad-free network and I wish them the best of luck.
CPR, Dogs & Running Shoes: Reputation Management Lessons from Pearl Izumi
A person giving a dog CRP to promote running shoes? Doesn’t sound like a good idea to me. As social media as continued to evolve and become widely adapted, marketers have been taking the opportunity to use their social media voice to market to consumers. While being able to promote your brand in a social environment and having the ability to have a real conversation with your customer is a very positive thing, the actions that some brands have took on social media have ended up damaging the brand’s reputation.
In a 2013 Canadian running magazine, Pearl Izumi, a high-quality running shoe designer released an add that showed a runner (wearing Pearl Izumi running shoes) having to give his dog CPR. While the ad was actually created for and distributed in a print publication, consumers took to social media to voice their concerns and opinions regarding the advertisement. This is significant because it shows that even though the ad was in print, consumers reach out to social media to voice their concerns and get their message across to the brand. The brand definitely took some hard hits on social media:
As an animal lover, the ad was offensive to me. Because many people feel a special bond with animals, why would a company want to post an ad that makes people feel empathy for a dog that has passed away? Personally, that did not make we want to purchase new running shoes! What were they thinking?
Pearl Izumi responded by pulling the ad from all future publications as well as issuing an apology on their Facebook page. In addition to the apology, the company donated $10,000 to the Boulder Valley Humane Society in Colorado (where the US corporate offices are located). While I do feel that they were sincere with their apology and attempted to “put their money where their mouth is” by making the $10,000 donation, I feel that they could have took the opportunity to educate their audience (while the audience was being extra attentive to the brand) about the proper way to run with dogs. Because dogs can’t tell you that they are exhausted and need to take a break, there actually have been instances where dogs have ran themselves to death trying to keep up with their owner. While this is a very unfortunate circumstance that people don’t want to think about, it happens. Since Pearl Izumi already opened up this can of worms, why not take the opportunity to educate and help prevent actual occurrences like this from happening?
Since the reputation blunder, Pearl Izumi has posted more photos of man’s best friend- only this time, they have been more careful about their posts!
KitchenAid Social Media Mix-up
Have you ever seen a post from a brand or individual you follow and thought “what in the world were they thinking by posting that?”. Unfortunately, social media accounts get hacked quite often. It doesn’t just happen to individuals, but large corporations like Delta Airlines and Burger King. It happens so frequently now that people automatically assume that the account was hacked when they see one of these posts. We’re so accustomed to seeing hacked accounts that we often give the brand or individual the benefit of a doubt. Sometime when you see an off the wall post, however, the account wasn’t hacked- the account was just posted to by mistake by someone who actually has the ability to post onto the account. This is what happened with the kitchen appliances brand KitchenAid.
In 2008, right before Barack Obama was elected president, his grandmother passed away. Following her death, the following statement was posted onto KitchenAid’s (@KitchenAidUSA) Twitter account: “Obama’s gma even knew it was going 2 b bad! ‘She died 3 days b4 he became president’ #nbcpolitics”. Although it appeared that the account may have been hacked, that was not the case. One of KitchenAid’s social media team members accidentally posted the tweet onto the corporate account instead of on his own account. Although the tweet was quickly removed by KitchenAid, it was seen by thousands of people. In fact, the tweet was also discussed outside of social media in places such as The Chicago Tribune, Huffington Post, Forbes, and Fast Company. Following the tweet, KitchenAid issued the following apology: “Deepest apologies for an irresponsible tweet that is in no way a representation of the brand’s opinion. #nbcpolitics”. As if they didn’t think that the first policy was enough, they then issued a policy directly to the president: “I would like to personally apologize to President @BarackObama, his family and everyone on Twitter for the offensive tweet sent earlier”.
While I feel that the first apology was necessary, I think that the second policy was unnecessary. I understand that they wanted to make sure that the Obama family knew that the tweet was not representative of a corporate stance, Obama wasn’t actually tagged in the original tweet. I feel like by posting the second apology tweet, they were bringing more attention to the situation than what was actually needed.
The situation that occurred with KitchenAid is a lesson that all social media managers can learn from. Because what is posted on social media can be so harmful to your brand’s reputation (and for your personal career as well), is is so important to not cross your personal social media accounts with your brand accounts. Yes, this was an accident, but it could have been prevented by this social media manager making sure he/she was logged into the correct account prior to posting. But, everyone is human and mistakes do happen.
Have you ever been in a situation where you or anyone on your brand’s social media team accidentally posted onto the wrong account? How did you resolve the situation? Do you feel that there should be more roadblocks in place so that posts like the KitchenAid example don’t happen in the future?
Who Do You Trust? Brand Advocates, Subscription Boxes & Social Media
How many websites do you check out before purchasing a product? Are you reviewing the websites for price comparisons or are you looking to genuinely find the product that best suits your needs? Today’s consumers have seemingly unlimited choices when it comes to researching and purchasing products. It’s not like the old days where you could only buy what you could get at the store. You were limited to only specific brands and didn’t know what other consumers thought of the product. You now have access to millions of product reviews and promotional information to help you make an educated decision on which product is best for your needs.
But who do you trust online? Do you trust the information that is on a brand’s website and social media pages? Do you trust bloggers that are given an incentive by the company? Do you trust your friend who purchased the product last week? Chances are, you’re going to trust your friend. If they don’t have any skin in the game, their review seems more honest, right? Today it seems like the further a person is removed from the corporate brand entity, the more you as a consumer trust their opinion. You want to trust a person who is considered to advocate for the brand without any benefit to themselves or being compensated by the brand. Personally, I trust brand advocates. I feel that many of you feel the same.
I love subscription boxes (you know, those themed boxes that you sign up for to receive in the mail evert month). But there are so many of them to choose from and some of them are pretty expensive. I don’t personally know which ones are the best for me and I don’t want to waste money on ones that I might not like. So what do I do? Turn to brand advocates. For subscription boxes, the brand advocate that I trust the most is the Ramblings of a Suburban Mom blogger, Jennifer V. While she has a disclosure on her site stating “This blog does accept complimentary product in exchange for honest blog reviews. No monetary compensation is received for blog reviews, however, posts may contain affiliate links and / or referral links”, I really trust her opinion.
From my personal experience following her on the blog and social media, she is very honest and her reviews are accurate. They often reflect my feelings when I receive a new subscription box. I not only follow her blog, but I follow her posts on Instagram and Facebook as well. She often talks about her family and posts pictures of them. That helps me see her as more of a person to trust then a corporation pushing marketing jargon on me (I am a marketer, so I know why they are doing that, but still, that information is very biased).
So what does she gain by posting subscription box reviews other than free subscription boxes? Blog traffic! On her blog, you’ll notice that she sells a heath/diet system called Advocare. Perhaps she talks advantage of her blog and social media traffic to help sell this product? As a follower, I’m ok with seeing an Advocare tab on her blog. I really trust what she has to say. More subscription box companies should send her free boxes to review. It’s the best review site of it’s kind on the web in my opinion.
A Question for my Fellow Marketers: How well do you trust marketing material or a corporate website/social media account? Do you feel that your opinion is skewed because you work in marketing?
Social Media and Reputation Management: Hitting Customer Reviews Head-on
Every social media manager’s worse nightmare revolves around reputation management. We spend so much time thinking about ways to create messages that our customers want to hear. We spend countless hours hoping to receive fantastic reviews and getting feedback from satisfied customers. We live for the moment when some random customer posts a positive post on one of our social media sites. We can’t wait to pass those posts along to management!
But what happens when the post is bad? Really, really bad? Thankfully in my professional experience, this hasn’t happened too frequently. But when it does, you have to be prepared. This means working with business stakeholders, PR, communications, and legal. While every negative post is different, we still have to have a cohesive plan in place so that we are able to do what needs to be done in a timely manner. In this week’s post, I will be reviewing both positive and a negative social media posts from the hospitality industry. It’s important to note that these posts are dated and used as examples for educational purposes only.
Post #1: Hyatt’s Positive Review…With a Twist!
Suggested Response:
Thank you for taking time to review your family’s most recent trip to Orlando’s Hyatt Regency! Reviewers like you give us the opportunity to ensure that our hotel is exceeding our guest’s expectations. We are very pleased to hear that you had such a wonderful stay. It is truly a complement that you chose to come back and stay with us for your family vacation. We are happy to hear that your children enjoyed one of our property’s newest additions, the pool. Although Florida weather can be unpredictable at times, we are glad that your family was still able to enjoy this new amenity despite the brief storm. It’s also great to hear that you were able to take advantage of our luxurious spa and restaurants. Next time you’re here, be sure to check out another great restaurant, Napa, where kids under 3 eat breakfast for free.
Again, that you for choosing our hotel and providing valuable feedback that will allow our team to make adjustments to our property so that all of your future stays continue to exceed your expectations. If you’re still looking to schedule that last-minute summer trip, we have several summer specials that you may want to take advantage of! If you have any questions or would like to discuss our property further, please feel free to contact me directly at any time. It has been a pleasure reading your review and having your family as guests!
Sincerely,
Whitney Amerson
Social Media Manager, Hyatt Regency Orland0
407-284-1234
Post #2: Hilton’s Negative Review
Suggested Response:
Thank you for taking the time to review our hotel and share your experience with us. I sincerely apologize for your most recent experience with our hotel, as the experience you have described does not meet our standards. I will make sure that your feedback is discussed with our management team promptly. The appropriate actions will be taken to ensure that this does not happen again to you or another guest. Because I know that our hotel has many great things to offer, I would love for you to give our hotel a second chance to exceed your expectations. At your convince, please call me so that we can work together on planning your next stay at our property. I have a few things in mind that I think you would want to take advantage of. I am looking forward to discussing how we can exceed your expectations and be the foundation for a great, memorable vacation!
Sincerely,
Whitney Amerson
Social Media Manager, Hilton Fort Lauderdale Marina
954-463-4000
While I am no stranger to generating responses for social media posts, I found this assignment to be quite difficult. Although I do work in a very different industry with very different problems, that wasn’t where the “hang-up” occurred. I am so accustomed to having stakeholders, PR, communications, and our legal team to discuss our approach for these types of posts with. It was very difficult to generate posts on my own. Hats off to any social media manager who doesn’t have anyone to lean-on when it comes to reputation management. It’s a tough job to do alone!
The Social Potter 
You Don’t Own Your Social Media Pages- Your Customers Do!
Posted on Updated on
The tricky part about reputation management and post moderation is determining how and if you want to respond to these comments. Not all customer posts require a response. From my experience, I’ve noticed that some customers just want to vent about there experience and don’t really expect a comment back. In some instances, you choose not to respond directly on the post, but try to pull the customer into a private phone conversation with the customer service team. In this week’s post, I will be examining two separate social media posts (one from a customer to a hotel and one from a viewer to a mainstream news network) to determine what, in my opinion, the appropriate response. One thing that I’ve learned is that no matter what your response is, some people just cannot be pleased nor satisfied. But as social media managers, we have to do our best!
Post #1: To a hotel: “I am disgusted about the state of your restaurant on 1467 Justin Kings Way. Empty tables weren’t cleared and full of remains of meals. It makes me wonder what the state of your kitchen is?!!! Gross.”
Let’s first analyze the post to see if we can determine what the customer is really looking to get across. By posting this to the hotel’s Facebook page, the customer is wanting to bring attention to the issue. He wasn’t complaining about the food or the service that he directly received, but was mentioning the overall state of the restaurant, which makes the issue seem more relevant to the hotel’s Facebook page audience. I mean, who wants to eat in a restaurant that had half-eaten food sitting all over the place and is “gross”? In my college days I was a waitress, so I completely understand that things happen. Perhaps the hotel received an unexpected business rush on a day they were understaffed to handle the situation and the buss boy was now serving tables and helping the waitresses and bartender instead of cleaning the tables. It’s kinda rare, but I’ve seen it happen. I feel that the hotel should respond in an honest manner and invite the guest back to try out the restaurant again. Perhaps they can even brag about their high food service rating score (assuming that to be the case).
Proposed Response: Hi John. Thank you for taking the time to provide feedback regarding our restaurant on Justin Kings Way. We want to assure you the the atmosphere you described experiencing at our restaurant is not to our standards nor does it exemplify the atmosphere that we aim to create for our customers. Due to miscalculations on our part, we were very understaffed during your visit. It was unfortunate that our restaurant, which has a health code score of 98%, was perceived as less than stellar. We would love the opportunity to change your perception of the restaurant. Please send us your email address in a private message and we will send you coupons to use on your next visit. We sincerely hope to see you again!
Post #2: To a mainstream news network: “Your reporting on the Middle East is biased in the extreme. You gave almost all your air time to spokespeople for the Israelis last night and there was no right to reply for the Palestinians. The conflict upsets me so much and your reporting of it, saddens me even more and makes me f**king furious.” (Let us assume the reporting was balanced, with equal time to both sides.)
The first thing that I notice about post #2 is that it involved political viewpoints on hot topics that tend to polarize people. The viewer is clearly upset and angry about about the newscast that he just witnessed. Honestly, he probably wrote this post immediately following the newscast and didn’t give himself time to think clearly about the situation prior to posting. We are assuming that the newscast was actually very balanced and reported on each side equally. My first instinct is to reply with a link to the newscast in question and discuss that each side of the issue received 10 minutes of discussion. However, in the case of this post, I feel that the best thing to do is to not respond. Because this individual is upset, I wouldn’t want the conversation to be elevated and turn into an online debate between him and the brand. Since the post stated his opinion, I feel it’s best to leave it at that and not validate it by replying. In this type of situation, I’ve seen where other views respond to the post instead. This seems to work out pretty well as far as generating engagement for your Facebook page. Not all comments require responses. It’s up to the social media team to understand their brand and audience and determine the best way to moderate comments, keep their customers happy and positively promote their brand.
Do you agree with the response that I proposed for Post #1? If you were the customer who made that post, would you feel inclined to accept the coupon offer and try the restaurant again? If your experience was very different, would you feel like you wanted to remove the negative comment that you previously posted on the hotel’s Facebook page?
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This entry was posted in Social Media Ethics and tagged comment moderation, Reputation Management, Social Media.