16/12/2011

Moaning on social media

by Steve Jaggard, Founder 2 minute read

There’s no doubt about it, if there’s one thing us Brits love (more than queuing and cups of tea) it’s having a good old moan. According to new research from Sage, more and more of us are turning to social media to complain when we receive poor customer service. Its survey of 2,000 consumers found that one in five of us are using social media to vent our frustrations, yet only 4 in 10 of us ever receive a reply.

I’ve been on the receiving end of some pretty poor service in the past. When my internet and TV service went down earlier this summer I called a certain Mr Branson’s helpline to get some help. After being kept on hold for nearly half an hour they cut me off when putting me through to yet another ‘customer experience executive’.

Like a true keyboard warrior I was straight onto Twitter to complain. I wanted all my friends and followers to know how useless they were. However, within 30 seconds of blasting my rant into the Twittersphere their social media team were onto my complaint, requesting my phone number for a call back. I was impressed – they sorted my problems and gave me a month’s free internet to say sorry.

Unfortunately, it seems not all businesses are as savvy. The research shows that 60% of complaints fall on deaf ears – and when you consider that the average Twitter user has 27 followers it’s easy to see why companies should be taking the power of social media seriously.

To take an example of this, earlier this week Easyjet were hounded by thousands of disgruntled Tweeters after denying a blind lady, Joanna Jones, and her guide dog from boarding a flight from Gatwick to Belfast. Within minutes of her request for help it was retweeted countless times and the press were on the case.

It’s a lesson for all businesses – if you’re on social media you need to be proactive, quick off the mark and be prepared to provide good customer service outside of the 9-5. Get it right and you’ll have people singing your praises – get it wrong and you could potentially unleash a storm. After all, your customers are your livelihood.

Rebecca / 9 years ago
Brilliant article and very well said, but the trouble comes when you're a small business and you don't have the time to monitor social media as well as run your business! Should small businesses be doing social media if they can't dedicate so much time to it?
Vicky from Further / 9 years ago
Hi Rebecca - thanks for getting in touch. In response to your question, that's where we come in. We deal with lots of clients who allow us to run their Facebook and Twitter accounts, and we use our wide-ranging of experience of social media to run awesome campaigns for them - so even if you don't have the time, we most certainly do. Does this sound like something you'd be interested in?
Ink Toners / 9 years ago
As reply to Rebbecca comment. i tihnk its better for small business owners to hire different small companies who can boost your business by using different social media and other links.
printers toners / 9 years ago
Great suggestions for small business owners. thanks for sharing. I agree with you its really tough for small business owners to handle their business as well as to go with social media and advertise through other media.