Posts Tagged ‘Yelp’
Are You Listening?
Listening to the customer is the core of every sales training manual and customer service seminar, yet companies often fail to hear what is being said.
I recently attended the IIR Social Media conference, and heard many times over that corporate leadership didn’t want to hear about negative feedback from customers.
With social media playing a greater role as a resource to provide instant feedback, the customer voice is becoming more and more difficult to ignore.
- Betty White appeared on SNL two weeks ago due to an outpouring of support from fans on Facebook (probably the most entertaining SNL episode this season).
- Nestle recently announced a zero deforestation policy, after ignoring organizations like Greenpeace regarding their sourcing of palm oil
- IKEA’s typeface change caused an uproar that IKEA wasn’t aware of until Lisa Abend, a reporter for TIME International (and my sister), brought it to their attention
Even if your company is not actively participating in social media, here are some ideas to monitor what your customers think of your company, your industry and your competitors:
- Yelp, Kudzu, Citysearch – Regularly monitor these rating sites
- Search.Twitter.com – Twitter’s search engine. Just type in what you are interested in or use hashtags (#) before your word to see what comes up
- Social Mention, Alterian SM2 – free tools that give you a nice snap shot of what it is being said across social media channels
- Ripoff Report – when people are very unhappy, they’ll post it here
Social media may not be the right marketing tool for your business, but it is the right tool to help you listen to what your customers are saying.
How Do You Handle Online Criticism?
We’ve discussed the role of Passive Social Media (monitoring social media) as a way to gain consumer insight about your company. The most difficult part (by far) is hearing criticism, but one that is important to your overall growth.
The February issue of Inc. has a great story on the social review site Yelp and the impact of consumer reviews on business. Inc. senior writer Max Chafkin lists the five steps in handling online criticism:
- Register – “Registering [on sites like Yelp] allows you to correct inaccuracies, receive alerts when you are reviewed and respond to your critics.”
- Breathe – “If there’s no way to respond to a review without being angry, profane or aggressive, don’t do it at all.”
- Be Gracious – “Apologize for what the customer didn’t like and offer to make it right.”
- Complain – “[Yelp] removes reviews in cases where there is a conflict of interest.”
- Avoid The Courts – “If you decide to sue, be ready for more attacks”.
The points Chafkin makes are great for handling negative reviews. It is equally important that you are not so blind to your business that you classify every negative review as wrong.
If you are a restaurant and you get negative reviews every Monday night, is there a staffing issue that needs to be addressed?
Are people frustrated with your return policy? If so, determine if you need to change your policy or just communicate it better at point of purchase.
If you see the same point come up review after review, recognize the trend and correct it quickly. When you communicate your changes, be sure to give credit to the people who brought it to your attention.
Doing so will go a long way to endear your audience and have them defend you against unwarranted negative comments.
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The next hot thing in marketing
In the latest issue of Fortune magazine, prominent people talked about the best advice they ever received. Lauren Zalaznick, President, Women & Lifestyle Entertainment Networks, NBC Universal, stated the best advice she ever received was to listen.
Great advice – probably the best for anyone in marketing. And with today’s social media tools, it is now easier than ever.
Twitter: Peter Shankman (twitter.com/skydiver) tweeted about the great service, but poor wi-fi, at a hotel he was staying at. Someone at that hotel was monitoring Twitter and immediately had the problem resolved.
Facebook: Totino’s Pizza has 47 fan groups on Facebook where people talk about their favorite pizza, best toppings to add to a pizza and products they don’t like. Think about how much the Totino’s product team could learn about their evangelists without paying a dime for formal research.
Rating Sites like Yelp, Kudzu, City Search: Ratings sites allow people to post what they like and don’t like about your company. If you aren’t getting five-star ratings, do you know why? Looking at your customer reviews will let you know what you are doing well and where you need improvement.
Blogs & YouTube: People are passionate. And now they have the tools to express their passion through words and video. What are bloggers writing about your company? Have people posted videos about your service? Remember the YouTube video where a Comcast service tech fell asleep on the couch while waiting on the phone for Comcast technical support?
Every day I am asked how to use social media for marketing. My response? Listen to your audience.
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