COMMUNICATIONS

Social media 101

The rules of engagement and how to make it work for your brand. By Rebecca Smith.

I’m delighted to introduce you to That Communications Company (That Comms Co.) in this issue of Insider. That Comms Co. is a strategic communications and public relations agency who can support you with communication advice should you find your business facing an issue or crisis. You’ll find more information about That Comms Co. and how to access their service in the Member Benefits area on the SSAA website. This is the first in a series of articles contributed by the agency dedicated to helping our members communicate effectively with customers.

Susan Phillips CEO

Social media is a great platform to engage and communicate with your customers— especially when face-to-face contact with them may be limited to when they set up their account and move their belongings into your storage facility.

Having a social media presence on sites like Facebook and Instagram provides you with an opportunity to inject your business’s personality into your customer interactions in an informal setting where you can be warm and engaging in your approach.

When matters require a more serious tone, you can also use social media channels to convey important updates and news to customers.

Well managed social media channels will work to strengthen your customer relationships, increase customer loyalty, and also the likelihood of retaining business and attracting referrals.

While many of you will already be engaging with customers on social media, here are a few things to consider to help you make the most of your online presence and navigate some of the challenges that you may encounter from time-to-time.

RESPONDING TO NEGATIVE FEEDBACK

As a business you can’t control everything and it’s almost certain that at some stage you’ll have to deal with a negative comment or post from a disgruntled customer. Rather than igniting the situation, it’s best to remain calm and courteous in your response, and attempt to take the conversation offline as soon as possible by suggesting they contact you via email or phone to discuss their concerns.

Have a template statement drafted that you can personalise for situations like this. The response should thank the person for their feedback, acknowledge their disappointment or concern, and politely ask them to contact you by phone or email so the issue can be resolved.

Your customers will appreciate an authentic and timely response and are much more likely to be forgiving if you show that you’re willing to acknowledge your mistake and remedy the situation.

BASIC DO’S AND DON’TS:

DO: Respond quickly to stop the issue from escalating DO: Be polite and understanding DO: Take the conversation offline as soon as possible

DON’T: Let negative comments scare you, it comes with the territory DON’T: Get defensive – others will see your response DON’T: Delete the comment, this may cause the commenter to become more disgruntled and post additional negative comments. The exception here is if the comment is profane, illicit, or uses offensive language.

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Information on how to delete and report harmful posts on Facebook can be found here: https://www.facebook. com/business/a/page-moderation-tips

Information on how to delete and report harmful posts on Instagram can be found here: https://help.instagram. com/477434105621119

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT: BE AVAILABLE, AUTHENTIC AND RELEVANT

According to research, the two main reasons why customers follow brands on social media are 1) to learn about new products or services and 2) to be entertained.

The top reasons for unfollowing a brand on social media are poor customer service and irrelevant content. Nearly 30% of people say they will unfollow a brand that ignores comments and posts from followers.

For this reason, keep your customers engaged with useful and interesting updates, and acknowledge them when they contribute to your page — including thanking them for feedback and posts.

ESTABLISHING COMMENTING GUIDELINES

On sites like Facebook, businesses can benefit from having some commenting guidelines in their ‘About’ section that establish acceptable and unacceptable community behaviours. This will help to create a respectful online environment and can be referred to when deleting harmful content, including profane, illicit, defamatory, and offensive language, etc. Being able to refer to your community guidelines to justify removing an inappropriate or offensive post is a reasonable and transparent way of deflecting a potentially negative scenario before it escalates. l

Well managed social media channels will work to strengthen your customer relationships, increase customer loyalty, and also the likelihood of retaining business and attracting referrals.

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AUSTRALIA Elaine Coote T 02 9890 3844 F 02 9630 5701 E sales@lockdistributors.com.au lockdistributors.com.au NEW ZEALAND Sharon Heuvel T 0508 LOCKED E info@lockdistributors.co.nz lockdistributors.co.nz