Social media platforms have grown so massively that it has become important what is being discussed about their brand, product, services and many more. Once these negative comments go viral online, your business image is tainted badly. One has to keep in mind, that you cannot stop people talking bad about you, to be an effective marketer you should know the tactics to calm this wave of negativity about you product and services. You have to cover these negative comments to improve your tarnished image. An effective marketer has to inculcate all these skills into his personality to manage these negative comments effectively, on various social online portals.
Tactics a business should adopt, to underscore these negative comments effectively are:
Keep calm and it’s all fine:
You have to keep calm when you see, hear or read negative comments about your product and services. If you reciprocate in the similar manner, this will escalate the problems further. You have to control the urge to reply in a rude manner, as it is far more damaging than the comment itself. Maintain your cool and respond with modesty.
Take conversations offline:
Once you have responded to the comment with humility on the public portal, it is better to take the conversations offline. Respond to the complaint on the social media platform and then cater to the person complaining on personal grounds. This will assure people that customer satisfaction is your top-notch priority. Instruct the complaining customer to follow the protocol to discuss complains via email or telephonically.
Iron hand in velvet glove:
If your customer does not calm down and refuses to cooperate, be kind to them. Don’t follow the concept of an eye for an eye this can be suicidal. Show deep sympathy, try to empathize and ask them to cooperate. Try to ease the situation, and lighten the mood of the customer. When you have a breakthrough, state you side of story graciously enough so that it does not sound too harsh.
Be the bigger person, and apologize:
Admitting to you mistakes and gracefully apologizing for the same does not make you any smaller a person, rather it makes you the bigger person. Let the customer know that you are genuinely sorry. At time just a simple sorry may work, the customers are also human after all. Understand only the bearer knows where the shoe pinches, try to put yourself in that situation and apologize effectively. Assure them that this will be considered and will be taken care of in the near future.
Be a good listener:
Mostly problems arise as we listen to reply and not to understand. To be a good marketer you have to be a good listener. Let the irate customer vent out his frustration, you have to be all ears to the agony that he reverberates. Once, that is done try and calm the customer. Listen to all his genuine complains and make sure you deal with them immediately.
Present a solution:
Once you have actively heard all the complaints, and concerns, present a solution to the customer. Give him the best possible outcome and try to make him feel good as well as important. Understand that in marketing, customer is the king.
Dealing with an anguished customer is a difficult task. A good marketer should know that this negativity is not to be taken personally. You need to have a keep calm approach, to deal with such negativity and should tactfully work towards improving the tainted brand image. Changing the impression about your product on the social media sites is in your hands, all you need to do is play your cards right.
Summary
Customers generate conversations about your product that harm your brand image; it is for a good marketer to handle the situation by effectively catering to the complaints and improving the tarnished image.
