What can retailers do when they see inaccurate, derogatory messages about their business online? Charles Russell’s Vanessa Barnett and Caroline Swain offer some top tips.
Social media has revolutionised the way retailers communicate with their customers. One-way marketing communications are a thing of the past, customers and retailers are now engaged in a constant, global dialogue. If used well, retailers can exploit social media and get the right people to say the right things about their products.
As we are reminded all too often, however, social media is a double edged sword - by promoting us all to the role of public broadcaster, with a simple click on the “Share” button customers increasingly have control over how brands are perceived. Consumers and interested organisations now have a platform from which they can launch negative campaigns without a significant economic or time investment.
In the article below we consider how retailers can utilise social media to their advantage and what to do when something is posted online that is incorrect, derogatory or otherwise damaging.
Engaging
Retailers have a vast array of methods of connecting with customers through social media including:
Promotion and competitions – asking customers to tweet or post something positive about your brand in order to enter a competition is a simple way of increasing positive online commentary about your products (it is also a great way of accessing customer data but don’t forget about your data protection obligations).
Branded pages on social media websites – these enable you to establish an online following through which you can advertise fresh initiatives to existing and new customers. Branded pages also provide a useful space in which to provide additional customer services – live chats with designers and technicians, for example, are a great way of encouraging customers to plug in to your brand.
Word-of-mouth advertising / online brand ambassadors – providing customers or bloggers with products to generate reviews is a great way of increasing awareness of your brand. Be careful though - the laws and regulations relating to traditional advertising also apply to this form of advertisement, marketing communications must be identifiable as such.
The suggestions above could all increase positive commentary about your products, conversely they can also lead to negative commentary.
Monitoring
A key benefits of social media is the option to respond quickly and directly to rumours and negative publicity. In order to do so effectively you must be in control of your social media presence:
Ensure that all content published by you on social media is up to date and relevant in the same way as you would do on your own website.
Create a monitoring program to oversee third-party content on social media sites which can be managed by your employees or a third-party agent.
Create a response team with a clear strategy which is practiced in handling negative commentary (including senior management and employees from legal, marketing, PR).
Create and implement a social media policy which is enforced consistently. This is particularly helpful in dealing with comments made by employees on social media sites and should include the repercussions for employees who post inappropriate comments which are not unlawful but contain profanity, derogatory contents etc.
Protecting
Ultimately consumers have the right to voice their opinions online but if statements are false then retailers can act and where required pursue legal action.
The best way to protect yourself is to be prepared and take preventative action before any negative commentary is published.
Where possible implement your own terms and conditions which restrict content uploaded by users and incorporate a disclaimer which authorises you to take down any content.
Ensure you are familiar with the terms and conditions of third party social media websites so that you always know what your options are.
Don’t forget that social media is subject to the same defamation rules as information published by other means. Be careful not to repeat the defamatory statements of users by retweeting or reposting them or you could be deemed to be a “publisher” for defamation purposes.
Top tips
As the subject of complaints, criticisms or a negative online campaign on social media it is vital to ensure your response is proportionate. The best responses to online criticism can actually improve a retailer’s reputation. Use the following checklist to decide if and how you will respond:
Is the origin of the comment or campaign a troll dedicated to harming reputations; or Is the comment or campaign a rant, satirical or just intended as a joke? If so, depending on the severity, you should consider not responding, particularly if it is a one-off, as it is unlikely any customers would take such commentary seriously. Rather you should monitor the site or user for further comments.
Is the commentary erroneous? In general, the best way to respond to incorrect information is to present the facts. If the commentary is defamatory or could cause acute reputational damage you should remove the content or request that the website host does so. It may still be appropriate to respond with a factual statement. In extreme cases you could consider taking legal action.
Is the content just the response of an unhappy customer or a report of a negative experience? If so consider how you can best represent your brand in your response. Apologising tends to be a good idea and you could consider providing a solution depending on the complaint in question. A timely and reasonable response will tend to be sufficient.
Where you do decide to respond to comments or campaigns use the following checklist and ensure that you share the response with other members of the business for a second opinion: Explain who you are and why you have authority to respond. Cite your sources when presenting any facts and where relevant include links, images and other references. Ensure the response is well written and clear. A response littered with typos and vague message implies that you are panicked or concerned by the comments. Take care to adopt a tone which shows you respect the opinion of the other person, be careful not to seem sarcastic or condescending.
Overall, you should always seek to address your specific strategy and goals when determining how to interact with social media and always take an extra minute to think about your responses online – once posted it is very hard to back track as US Airways knows all too well.
