r/RoastMe is arguably one of the most well-known parts of reddit out there. It’s hilarious, mean (but in a fun way), somehow wholesome at times, and begs to be shared. So, you might be asking, “What else can reddit offer me?”
Did you know over 36% of Americans polled in this survey stated that they reliably got their news from Facebook? Yes, Facebook. The same Facebook that has been called out for controversial use of its users’ data.
Shook, right? Yeah, so was I.
This leads to the burning question – why do we trust Facebook so much as a reliable news source?
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One would assume that since we find Facebook to be so reliable for our news information that we would equate Facebook with being trustworthy. However, based on this survey also from 2020 only 12% of the polled users felt that Facebook was to be trusted with their privacy and data.
What is even more interesting about this whole situation is that according to this research social media consumers stated that they felt 60% of the news on their channels would be inaccurate.
The reality is the way information is presented to us is very heavily dependent on the bias of the person providing the information. While no social media channel, or cable news channel for that matter, will ever be 100% un-biased, based on the above information it seems like we’re already pretty skeptical about what’s on our feeds anyways.
Social retail tactics are everywhere, and its not just limited to directly promoting the sale of a product. Have you ever seen an influencers unboxing event of a subscription box? How many posts have you seen in your feed calling out this amazing new product that they got to test for free?
Home Tester Clubis one of many sites that connect companies to consumers in hopes of a favourable review that will encourage you, and the people you know to buy a product based solely on the relationship you have with them.
While this could just be someone you know sharing their thoughts on a new product, the reality is that this is part of a social retail strategy. In general, we feel more confident purchasing a product that someone we know has recommended to us.
What is the most memorable recommendation that you have seen on a friend’s social channel? Comment below!
Facebook: Have your Facebook friends ever convinced you to buy a product? https://bit.ly/3irIbsA
The Do’s & Don’ts of using a company’s social presence to your advantage to get your problem solved.
In today’s world companies are trying to stay relevant and meet their customers where they are. You know yourself that you don’t have the time to wait for hours for someone to answer the phone and solve your problem. Established companies understand that they need to stay relevant, and some ways they do this is by having a presence on quite a few different social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
In my current position with The-Company-Who-Will-Not-Be-Named, we are actively pushing our customers to reach out to us on those social pages. On the “contact us” portion of our website, we have actually have our social channels listed alongside our phone, email, & chat links, as a legitimate channel to be contacted for customer service.
“How can having customers complain about your crappy service on your social pages be good for your business?”
There are a few reasons that we encourage customers to reach out to us through those mediums, but the main one is that it’s good for our company. I know what you’re thinking, “how can having customers complain about your crappy service on your social pages be good for your business?” For starters, it gives us the opportunity to show other customers (and any potential new customers) that we are real people, we do care, and we want to help. Another good reason to reach out on a company social pages is that it’s such a public forum; we’re so aware of the stage that we operate on, you’ll find that the caliber of person you’re dealing with is generally, (but not always) higher than the first person who answers the phone, or your chat. At The-Company-Who-Will-Not-Be-Named, our social media customer care team is on par with our customer retention team in terms of empowerment, and skill set.
So, without further ado, here are some clear-cut Do’s & Don’ts on how to utilize their social networking pages to your advantage!
Do –
Check that they respond to customers on their social media pages. I know that this seems basic, but not every company utilizes their social channels to engage with their customers.
If posting publicly, give a brief synopsis of your problem, and tag the company. For most platforms, you can use the @ symbol (Ex. @TheCompany) and it will show up on their feed.
When messaging privately, provide them with your unique identifier. The order, shipment number, purchase order, and/or telephone numbers are all good places to start!
BE POLITE, you are talking to a real person. We know you’re annoyed/frustrated/angry, those are all valid emotions, and we genuinely WANT to help you. You catch more flies with honey, ya know!
If you genuinely feel like the person who helped you solved your problem, take a minute and shout it out! NOTHING makes us feel better than when a customer updates their initial post with a simple, “Thanks Anne for your help & support.” Alternatively, if you don’t feel comfortable updating your original post, lay on the well deserved praise in the post service survey.
Don’t –
Expect an answer immediately. Please give the person who wants to help you a reasonable amount of time to investigate your concerns.
Be pushed around. If you reached out to get an update on your estimated time of arrival, or the tracking number, and its been hours you can reach back out and ask if there has been an update.
Have unrealistic expectations. You can absolutely ask for compensation for a less than ideal experience, but be fair & reasonable with what you are asking for You shouldn’t expect that they are going to be buying you a new Hot Tub, when they were 5 minutes late dropping off your new fridge.
Live tweet your experience. Literally no one else in the world cares that @TheCompany has responded to you, and that they are looking into it.
As you probably surmised by reading through this quick list of do’s and don’ts the general “rules” of getting good service is being a good customer; our jobs are to make you happy (especially on social media), and we want to do that! On social, we’re always looking for an excuse to make your day, and give you good service so the next time you have a problem, hit up a companies social page first, and you may be surprised by the results!
You can use Facebook to get the customer service you need! Find out more here: https://bit.ly/2ZrimCn
Companies will appreciate you bringing your problems to their Twitter pages. Link 👉 https://bit.ly/2ZrimCn
Algonquin College Social Media Certificate Program 