subject: How To Deal With Mistakes Online [print this page] Social media is a complicated fieldSocial media is a complicated field. When you start earning followers and becoming dominant, be ready on anything that your competitors, buyers and even might notice on your site. With self-publishing tools readily accessible, it will not be difficult for a blogger or a tweeter with your company to get attention from others, and then earn momentum like Twitter and Facebook. Since most individuals are so much into their social media profiles, in which also contain their personal information, it will be easy for anyone to access your history too.
We've learned some big lessons on how not to use social media from big brand names who have the money to use social media on a large scale and yet have failed. Most online business owners don't have big budgets but social media snafus still happen all the time. The biggest ground of such problems is miscommunication between seller and buyer, but sometimes you can also just make a mistake. Some owners also use deception to get business, and that's something a blogger or Tweeter can take casually.
So, despite our being careful, you should always prepare or a backlash from a customer or from a competitor. What can you do when you make a mistake?
Act quickly
Remember that social media moves exceedingly fast. If you're slow to respond to a situation, it can escalate beyond control. The moment that you discover that a problem has been made public, even if there's only one or two customers complaining about it, make a move to get it under control.
Figure out what happened
Was the mistake at your end? Did the customer misunderstand something? Were you unclear due to self-serving motives? Figure out what exactly led to the situation where a customer or patron is taking public issue with your company or conduct, and figure out the extent to which you were responsible for it.
Take responsibility.
Take responsibility for at least as much as you are actually responsible for, and do it quickly in the form of a personal note, a public message, or even a proper blog post. If it's clear what you need to do to fix the problem, commit to fixing it as soon as possible; if it's not yet clear, then commit to finding out how to fix it.
Find a fix
Communicate with the aggreived party or parties and try to come to a settlement which is agreeable to both of you. It is unlikely that a customer is making your life hard for no reason, but rather are probably as interested in settling it as you are. Keep direct lines of communication open.
Be gracious
Don't resort, under any circumstance, to name-calling or any personal attacks. What you do is associated not only with your own name but with your brand, your web site and your product. Be professional at all times, and as gracious and accomodating as possible - not just for the benefit of those who are affected by your mistake but for your future customers too.
Realize that nothing is ever erased online
Whatever you write and however you respond, remember that the internet remembers and saves everything, and much of what you say can easily be traced back to you.
Value loyalty
When the issue has blown over, learn to value those who stick around and place their trust in you, and work hard to reward that trust.
Employ long-term SEO to knock the offending information off the top pages
If a blogger has written an offending post about your company, it can turn up on the top-pages of a search for your company, especially if the entry gets much attention. You can really do nothing ethical at this point; but you can use some long term PR-management to create better and more flattering stories (as long as they're true, of course) about your company, and over time, with SEO, try to overcome the negative publicity on search rankings.
The important thing is not just to try to avoid mistakesbut rather, when a mistake has already been committed, to respond swiftly and with a clear plan of action. The above tips will help you do just that, if you or your company come under attack in this age of social media.
by: Pilar Torres Wahlberg
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