Good Evening Ladies and Gentleman. Welcome to Late Night Critic.
Tonight we will discuss the use of social media as a tool to cool the heated moods of frustrated customers. With the current weather-craze airline services have been put in the spotlight for their reactions to customer complaints, especially in their responses through social media. Jason Clampet recently wrote an article on Skift about the airlines and their use of Twitter to calm the sea of complaints they were receiving. This is what sparked my interest in the subject matter. Social media has been used for this purpose for a few years now. However these days it is common to see a negative post on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc. and for the culprit company to respond by apologizing and sometimes even offering some sort of gift.
I believe that this form of customer service isn't only good for companies to follow, it is necessary to keep up with the consumers of today. Social media has become a great tool for any company, no matter the size. Sometimes it isn't just about replying directly to posts. A week ago I remember seeing a friend tweet about a bad experience at a local coffee shop. Within 20 minutes he received a note that he could come in and get a free drink on them. Whether it's big or small a company that can use social media to keep track of and comfort their customers can become very successful.
There are also many bad examples of the use of social media for advertising today. From Epicurious using the Boston Marathon Bombing to tweet about their food, to Applebee's firing a waitress simply for posting a picture of a receipt when she was left without a tip. The dark side of what social media does to our world is quickly making itself apparent. A company shouldn't have to remove a post from a website because the number of consumer complaints grew exponentially (see Epicurious). However, as long as companies plan out their use of social media I feel it can be used purely as a tool of good.
I believe that this form of customer service isn't only good for companies to follow, it is necessary to keep up with the consumers of today. Social media has become a great tool for any company, no matter the size. Sometimes it isn't just about replying directly to posts. A week ago I remember seeing a friend tweet about a bad experience at a local coffee shop. Within 20 minutes he received a note that he could come in and get a free drink on them. Whether it's big or small a company that can use social media to keep track of and comfort their customers can become very successful.
There are also many bad examples of the use of social media for advertising today. From Epicurious using the Boston Marathon Bombing to tweet about their food, to Applebee's firing a waitress simply for posting a picture of a receipt when she was left without a tip. The dark side of what social media does to our world is quickly making itself apparent. A company shouldn't have to remove a post from a website because the number of consumer complaints grew exponentially (see Epicurious). However, as long as companies plan out their use of social media I feel it can be used purely as a tool of good.
This week in BBB (Best Business Blunders): New Coke
Twenty-nine years after the release of "New Coke" Coca-Cola is lucky to be back the number one soda in the US. Why did they even research a new product? After reading through the Coca-Cola website I found that the company was losing its edge on its competitors and the overall cola business was suffering. Although the taste tests for "New Coke" gave off better scores than the original formula, what Coca-Cola failed to determine was their customers loyalty to their already great product. Coca-Cola released their new product after testing it extensively and it garnered great attention, but of the utmost negativity.
Twenty-nine years after the release of "New Coke" Coca-Cola is lucky to be back the number one soda in the US. Why did they even research a new product? After reading through the Coca-Cola website I found that the company was losing its edge on its competitors and the overall cola business was suffering. Although the taste tests for "New Coke" gave off better scores than the original formula, what Coca-Cola failed to determine was their customers loyalty to their already great product. Coca-Cola released their new product after testing it extensively and it garnered great attention, but of the utmost negativity.
So what is the lesson learned? Data is not the only important factor to a product's success. Coca-Cola took 3 months to respond to this issue, but because they listened to their customers they were able to make it back to the top of the US soda food-chain.
Thank you for reading,
Alex Oldfield
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