Comments on: Using Social Media for Business Growth

By: matthew

matthew — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 05:22:50 +0000

I found this new, TOTALLY FREE (like myspace and facebook) social network. It lets you do everything from 1 page, including managing any other social sites you may already have subscribed to. People String is awesome, I use it for everything. http://www.peoplestring.com/?u=mhbusiness

By: Gini Dietrich

Gini Dietrich — Mon, 10 May 2010 17:35:21 +0000

Nora, I agree and it’s something we discuss at length with clients. I always recommend responding once, publicly, to a complainer. Let everyone see that you’ve responded. If they complain again, everyone else sees it and they typically take care of the issue for you. There is nothing better than your community of brand ambassadors taking it upon themselves to protect a company they respect. It happens all the time, no matter the size of your business. As long as they know you’re sincere and want to help; they’ll take down the trolls for you.

Richard, cannot wait to hear!

John, to Nora’s point about complainers not going back and saying you resolved the issue. I personally think it’s tacky for the company to go back and say they resolved the issue, but I don’t think it’s a problem to ask the person to go back and do that. If they don’t, well, they don’t and there isn’t much you can do about it. Except hope the next person does.

By: Nora McDougall-Collins

Nora McDougall-Collins — Mon, 10 May 2010 17:30:41 +0000

Thanks for the article. I will pass it on to my web development students. One comment: I think that at some point people will start abusing the idea and start posting fraudulent complaints to get free merchandise or – just because they can.

By: Richard Bosworth

Richard Bosworth — Mon, 10 May 2010 17:14:03 +0000

Ramone has become the role model for a number of Chief Executives and Business Owners I work with because of the creative way he is using social media to build his business and particularly his innovative use of video. Hope to have some case studies to match Ramone’s before too long and FADS readers will be among the first to hear.

By: Gogo | Denver Business Consulting

Gogo | Denver Business Consulting — Fri, 07 May 2010 22:35:20 +0000

Ramone DeLeon is an example of strategic internet marketing when sensibly applied to social media for business growth. He understands that the first transaction (on his FaceBook promotion above for instance) is likely to be a loss leader, but has built a system within his business to maintain contact and momentum with those buyers such that they come back many times over.

Many local small businesses will not do well with social media investments of time and money because their approach to incorporating social media into their business is far more likely to be tactical than strategic. For heavy and aggressive investments in social media to work for a small business, they must incorporate the expected “back end” benefit into the very design of their marketing and business system.

Not as hard as it might sound to some, but easier said than done nonetheless.

Gogo Erekosima

By: John Lane

John Lane — Thu, 06 May 2010 22:25:56 +0000

Great post — thanks for sharing.

Something I’ve been thinking about lately that relates to the subject is ethics in a situation like this. Can/should the company promote that they solved a problem or successfully addressed a complaint via social media? The situation I witnessed went like this:

- Someone complained via Twitter about service they received at a local restaurant.
- The restaurant immediately responded with a public mea culpa, and asked for more detail via DM.
- Because I know the person, I found out after the fact that they did DM with more detail and, further, that the issue had been nicely resolved.
- But that person did not publicly say it had been resolved.

Is it the responsibility (for lack of a better term) of the person who complains to also clue people in to the resolution? If they don’t, can/should the company come out and say it for them? Or would that be in bad taste—bordering on unethical, by putting words into someone’s mouth? Can you even speak generally about it in good taste (i.e. “we’ll guarantee to solve your problems if you let us know about them)? Or is the act of offering help enough to “undo” the bad impression that came from the original complaint?

I completely agree that complaints should be addressed in the original medium — a good point to reiterate. But how far can you push that resolution for your companies good?

Thanks again.

@johnvlane

By: Thomas Scott

Thomas Scott — Thu, 06 May 2010 22:13:12 +0000

Nice – excellent use of the tool to be both transparent and make amends. Sometimes a problem is a golden opportunity!