Brands Cannot Ignore Social Media Comments

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By: Janet Kalandranis

There’s some kind of mis-branding rumor flying around out there. It’s telling brands that they can ignore customer comments and issues. Sounds ridiculous, right? Well, it’s true. Apparently someone or some company decided that if a customer comment or issue came across in a social media platform, then it is okay to ignore. It’s a lie, it’s not good brand behavior, and it is seriously affecting customer engagement for brands that have taken this path.

Why do brands do this? Who was the guy that said this was acceptable? It’s hard to say how this started and which brand went down the path that others would follow, but nevertheless it’s not a brand success story. Maybe brands assumed no one cared, no one was listening, and customers were just blowing off some steam. Or maybe the brands didn’t want to spend the time, money, and resources on something they assumed wasn’t worth their while. Unfortunately, that was the wrong way to think about social media comments from customers.

Customers expect a response no matter how they reach out to the brand. The statistics reinforce this, with 50% of consumers only giving brands a week to respond to a question before they stop doing business with the brand. Just think; a response could have saved a customer from moving on to the next competitor. And yes, answering a comment or concern does have an impact on brand engagement. Customers who received a response were pleased with the response approximately 46% of the time. Even better, 22% of customers that received a response from a brand posted a positive comment about the brand. That means reaching out to these customers and helping them actually does pay off.

The lesson here is the same it’s been years before. Customer service is always important and is still important no matter where the issue, comment, or question appears. Brands can’t expect customers to only reach out to them in the way they prefer, but rather they need to understand all the places a customer interacts. This can have a positive or negative impact on a brand depending on if it listens and helps or turns the other way.