Monday, February 21, 2011

Why Responding to Negative Comments hurts Small Business on Social Media

Why Responding to Negative Comments hurts Small Business on Social Media

  • Is there a difference in Response Mode to Negative Comments by Small Business and Big Business on Social Media  ?
          The first issue that is rarely discussed in this regard is Budget .
         
          Whilst Big Business may have the Budget Resources to devote increasing numbers of Staff
          to be answering endless Negative prattle on Social Media ,
          Small Business does not !

          Secondly , because of the Staff issue ,
          Small Business does not have the Time to engage for
          hours on end with Negative and Critical people .

          Recently we received  Videos of a Social Media Seminar ,
          where supposed ' experts ' were dealing with
          the issue of Negative Comments
          and How Business should Respond .


         Initially we were enthusiastic to Review the content ,
         hoping that the Real World issues faced by Small Business
         would be dealt with .

         However , our hopes were crushed in the first two minutes of viewing the Video ,
         with the same old - same old ' respond to every Negative comment ' nonsense ,
         and more alarmingly ,
        
         No distinction between the needs of Small Business and Big Business !

        We will examine some of the comments made by the ' experts '
        in more detail to illustrate the need for

        the development of a tailored Strategy for Small Business on Social Media .

        Our Main Point is this ,

        What works for Big Business on Social Media ,
  
        will not always work for Small Business !

        The initial opening comments of the Seminar Video were similar to this ,

        ' Each time that you are attacked Negatively ,
          you have the opportunity of opening a conversation '

        Whilst this may seem like common sense to a Big Company ,

        for a Small Business ,
        this is not the opportunity for a conversation ,

        but the opportunity for a PR disaster .

        Let us all be honest ,
        if we  open a Page of an SME ,
        and all we  see is endless dialogue with critical Customers ,
        jokers and time wasters ,
        gossip and inane chit-chat ,

        What are our eyes drawn to in the first instance ?

        The first thing we want to see is the Negative Comments from Customers ,
         we may not even bother to read the Business Response .

        Why ?
        It's entertaining .

        But ,
        Is reading all the Negative going to cause you to Buy from that Small Business ?
       
        Book a table at the Restaurant ?

        No ! a thousand times No !!!

        It is time for us to get Real about the needs of Small Business with Social Networking .

        Over 90% of Small Business have Pages , Profiles or Accounts
        with less than 1000 members on any Social Network .
       
        We are not talking about huge numbers like Big Business may have .


        Our Recommendation for Small Business

        is to engage the Services of a Pragmatic Social Media Consultancy

        that has an extensive background in dealing with Small Business issues
        of all kinds .

        For more information ,

        Contact Jeremy Reynolds at


        alphasocialmedia@gmail.com



      

          This is Part 19 of an ongoing Series .

          Copyright - Alpha Training - Jeremy Reynolds - 2011

        

No comments:

Post a Comment