One of the arguments in favor of using social media even when you don’t see clear ROI in terms of dollars and cents is that social media has value beyond dollars and cents, and one important aspect of this value is risk control.
This means that when you have a social media presence, and a person that manages social media for you, you don’t lose control over your messaging – on the contrary, you gain more control because you are able to immediately take care of problems before they escalate.
In other words, social media can be used to provide customers with immediate customer service, the type of service they are unlikely to get through your website or even via the phone.
The following screen shot from the Facebook page of a yogurt brand beautifully demonstrates how a brand’s social media page can be used by a frustrated customer to complain. While this may seem damaging to the brand, I believe that the prompt response by the brand is, in this case, beneficial to the brand and reinforces its image as a brand that cares about its customers:
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Now, ideally I would have preferred to see the social media manager refrain from asking a question that had already been answered by the customer (yes, she did use the website to talk with customer service) and I would also think they should have solved this publicly – they could have offered to send her free product coupons if she emailed them her address. Showing everyone how exactly they deal with this type of issue would have been better than “I’ll send you a direct message.” Still, the very fact that the brand has reacted immediately and has shown willingness to make things right for the customer is priceless.
I'm Vered, a blogger for hire and social media consultant. I create and implement social media campaigns for my clients, with the goals of increasing brand awareness and loyalty, improving search engine rankings and driving targeted traffic to my clients' websites.
