Be Your Brand

by Regan Hillyer

  GET BACK TO YOUR CORE VALUES

  Most companies, at least when they are first formed, have the best of intentions. Many times, the entrepreneurs’ original motive is to create a solution in an attempt to solve a problem. Companies don’t necessarily start off seeing people signs or statistics. But as organizations grow, they get hard to manage. It becomes easy to lose the initial mind-set of authentically wanting to be there and fully present for your customer and even easier to drift away from your fundamentals and core values. What is your organization like now? Are you the kind of company that truly cares about its customers and values feedback? Does the marketing arm of your organization act more like an old professor at a large university lecture or like a young interested teaching assistant leading a group into discovery and learning together? It may be hard to honestly and accurately assess yourself and your company, but it’s imperative if you plan to survive in the social media age, in which a direct relationship with your customers is becoming the only way to succeed. Your organization looks like the tired, old professor, the good news is that you’re certainly not alone. The bad news is that it’s a going to take a lot of work and a commitment from senior management in order to get the company seriously engaged with its constituents and return to the core values of simply being a business catering to the consumers’ wants, needs, and desires. You can certainly follow the rules to look more engaged, but until you are more engaged, you run the risk of being known as only feigning interest in your consumer base.

  BUILDING TRIBES AND COMMUNITIES AROUND TRUST AND LOYALTY

  When you make the commitment to listen to and engage with your customers and prospects, it fosters a genuine sense of trust and loyalty between you and them, and among themselves. Think about the university analogy: In a large lecture, how comfortable would you feel disagreeing with the professor in front of the whole class? How would you feel being the second person to speak up, after someone with a dissenting opinion talks? You probably wouldn’t feel very comfortable speaking up at all, and neither would others, which is why day after day in that lecture, the professor talks, and students listen and take notes. This setup doesn’t really facilitate a valuable relationship or learning experience However, if in a smaller discussion class the instructor makes it clear on the first day that the atmosphere is one in which all opinions and comments are respected, where dialogue and dissent is welcomed and even encouraged, and where the teacher hopes to demonstrate that she wants to be as interested in what everyone has to say as they are interested in her, it fosters a community based around respect and trust. This teacher, whether he’s a TA, grad student, or full-time professor is seeking to create a discussion, not just lecture at the audience. Students will feel much safer and more empowered to speak up. They may also continue the dialogue without the instructor and beyond class time. That second class is building a community with value far beyond what the professor may have provided solely, by way of imparting knowledge. If you can similarly build and engage an authentic community in this way, your community will bring your brand value beyond what you may see right now. Engaging your customers or prospects and getting them involved in our brand community will create a sense of trust and loyalty between you and your customers. An authentic, engaged brand community can live anywhere online, on a blog, through Twitter, or on YouTube, for instance. However, most brand communities are on Facebook pages, the predominant social media site. Brand communities are usually started by companies but, take off, almost taking on a life of their own when customers join the conversation. How well you talk to your customers matters. After all, they trust and value you.

  CUSTOMERS SOLVING CUSTOMER SERVICE ISSUES

  One example of the benefits of building an engaged community is that customers will help one another out. If you create a place on Facebook or Twitter for people to ask questions, share feedback, and interact with not only you but one another, you will engender trust and loyalty and help the community grow. Customers or prospects will take notice and appreciate when you answer questions on a timely basis and in an authentic way. If you provide a place for consumers to connect and to gripe, to share information and to learn and to grow, people will realize you are committed to them and the community you are fostering, and they will return that commitment to you. So now when someone unfamiliar with your company comes to the community, a potentially huge new prospect, and posts a question, another member of the community might answer the prospect’s question before you have time to. Or when an unsatisfied customer comes to the Facebook page to complain, the community is likely to rally behind you without you even having to ask. How valuable might each of those things be to the bottom line? An engaged community grows your stakeholders in the company way beyond the staff and shareholders. These stakeholders will show support for you throughout their online social network and beyond. Your company’s reputation and visibility will grow, and in return, your online and offline community will flourish.

  DEALING WITH “NEGATIVE” PUBLIC COMMENTS

  You’ve worked hard for months with your team on social media and incorporated the best practices and planned social media into your business. You’ve built a Facebook grate blog, and you’re excited to join the age, a Twitter account, and an online conversation to foster a burgeoning community. Several coworkers have rallied behind you, supporting the importance of engaging customers throughout every step of their relationship with your company. Then, the night before the big launch day, you receive a phone call from your frantic chief executive officer. Remind me, what on earth are we going to do if people write bad things about us on our Facebook page? We can delete those, right? Because if we can’t delete those negative comments, I don’t think we’re ready for Facebook. Be prepared to answer every type of comment, both negative and positive.

  EMBRACE WHAT YOU CAN’T CONTROL

  Remember those comment cards every business used to have with a box you could drop them in? Many small businesses and restaurants still have them today. Whether your company officially has comment cards or not, they exist in the Facebook, Twitter, blogs, and other online social outlets. The good news for the customer is that the today’s consumer base is the most empowered in history. If you have a negative experience with any company or professional, you can fill out “a comment card” from your smart phone that instant and immediately share your comment with not only hundreds of friends, but complete strangers throughout the world. Of course, if you consider this situation from the standpoint of a company, this is a scary proposition. Just as the aforementioned CEO “freaking out,” so are marketers and public relations executives everywhere. For years, it’s been the role of communications professionals to control public perception of their companies, and now any kid with a Twitter account or Facebook profile can ruin it all. That said, as a marketer, once you accept and embrace the fact that you cannot control the posting of negative comments about your company online, you can begin to formulate a plan for what you’re going to do to respond to criticism. You could try to ignore it, of course. There are still plenty of companies that refuse to accept the fact that people are talking negatively about them. You could also try to delete things online. Sure, on your own Facebook page, you can delete whatever you want—and perhaps your company’s lawyers could write letters to every Web publisher who ever allows negative comments to be published about you, demanding that those comments come down.

  But the truth is, there’s no way to entirely stop people from making negative posts about your company, whether you have an official Facebook page or not. So, why not prepare yourself and, instead of avoiding it, embrace negative feedback, comments, and criticism? Especially if you are dealing with this potential example. This idea might sound like a radical, damaging one— take a deep breath, and brace yourself.

  THE DO-NOT-DELETE RULE

  The do-not-delete (DND) rule states that unless a comment is obscene, profane, bigoted, or contains someone’s personal and private information, never delete it from a
social network. It might be best to illustrate the DND rule by first playing out a scenario in which you don’t follow it. Control Freak Inc’s Facebook Johnny Customer posts: “I just got a bill for $100 more than I was supposed to. You guys suck!” The frantic CEO insists deleting the comment from the page right away so nobody else sees it; it is promptly removed from the page. Johnny Customer logs on later that day to find his comment deleted. He is infuriated that the company has censored his complaint and reacts by starting a new Facebook group called “I Hate Control Freak Inc! Boycott Them!” He also makes a YouTube video singing about his hatred for the company, detailing his bad experience, and starts a Twitter trend with a hashtag: #controlfreakincsucks. As it turns out, Johnny Customer happens to be the captain of the football team at his school and a popular lead singer for band in town. Within 24 hours, thousands of people are posting negative comments on Control Freak Inc’s wall, and worse yet, customers are canceling orders, and sales are down. Sure, this is a dramatic rendition of the situation and may not be the most likely occurrence. The point is, when you delete someone’s comment, it is the ultimate “Screw you.” It’s like collecting someone’s comment card, reading it in front of them, and then ripping it up in his or her face. You wouldn’t do that, would you?

  By responding quickly and publicly, you not only respond to someone’s concern, but you also send the message out to the world at large that you’re the kind of company that listens to its customers and fixes problems promptly. By taking the individual matter private, you avoid a public back-and-forth between company and customer, which wouldn’t help anyone involved and prolongs the negative situation. Refer to people by name, too, when you’re apologizing: it goes a long way toward helping someone feel heard and understood. We’re all human and we all make mistakes. Even the angriest of customers will recognize this truth and will be quick to forgive you, but only if you apologize and fix the problem as soon as possible Depending on the size of your organization, you’ll need to make sure you have enough internal or external resources to handle complaints in a timely manner. You probably already have a sense of just how many complaints you typically receive, maybe from those traditional comment cards if you have them. Of course, comment cards used to get forwarded to a department, who read them, wrote back letters, and mailed the responses out a week later. In the online world, things happen a lot faster. Put on your consumer cap. If you had a complaint or question about something, how quickly would you want to be, or expect to be, answered? Of course you’d like to receive a response almost immediately, so you should answer your customers right away as well. As a rule of thumb, make sure you have the resources in place to answer people’s negative comments within 24 hours or sooner, if possible. Even if the immediate response is: “I’m sorry. We’ll look into that and get back to you with a private message within 72 hours,” at least you’re immediately telling the customer you care, and you’re going to fix the problem as quickly as you can. After all, an angry customer is just like all of us: she wants to feel heard and understood. Sure, she may be more highly regulated than others, and sometimes, it’s just not to enough to apologize.

  For instance, as mentioned, feasible pharmaceutical companies often can’t legally apologize for complaints made about their products. But the online feel of “We’re sorry” can go a long way in helping make a customer feel heard and diffusing a potentially hazardous situation. There are lots of ways to put an apology in writing without admitting any wrongdoing, too: “I’m sorry you had this experience.” “We’re sorry you feel this way.” “I’m so sorry you’ve had a problem.” “That sounds so frustrating. Sorry you felt like that.” Responding with a short but genuine apology is a great start but, equally important, you’ve got to be able to fix the problem. For many companies this means that the marketing and public relations departments have to work closely with the customer service team to resolve people’s complaints in a timely manner. Remember, customers don’t care what department you’re in— they care if you can solve their problem or not. There’s really no difference to customers between a public relations associate and a customer service rep.

  FROM COMPLAINERS TO SUPPORTERS

  Depending on how efficiently and effectively you can solve a customer’s problem, you just might turn a hater into an admirer or even a major brand supporter. Consider if Johnny Customer, from our example, heard back from you immediately, and you were able to address his specific complaint with ease. His mind is likely to be changed about your company, and he might be so impressed and pleased that he recommends you to his peers. Consider the following real-life example of an unsatisfied Verizon customer.

  FROM FOE TO FiOS TO FAN OF FiOS

  Verizon FiOS is the television, Internet, and phone bundle offered by Fortune 500 company Verizon in select areas across the country. The Fans of FiOS Facebook page has been a marketing, promotions, and customer service asset for Verizon since 2008. When first launched, the page was designed to provide regional support for Verizon FiOS’s marketing and promotions initiatives. Customers, however, are typically more concerned about their own service problems than about the marketing and promotional material posted—and they’re not afraid to publicly state their issues. The FiOS team always attempts to quickly resolve such customer’s issues in conjunction with Verizon policies and procedures.

  Consider responding with surprise and delight. Responding with an apology and a quick solution to the problem is essential. But remember, unlike the comment card, which is private matter, social media is of a public nature, so there’s more at stake here when replying. Is there a way you can go above and beyond to fix the problem exceeding the unsatisfied customer’s original expectations? Maybe you send a bonus gift in the mail, or refund the customer’s invoice without telling her, or give her a deep discount on the next month’s service. Consider the options, get creative, and the customer’s next comment to all of her friends may be raving about the amazing company you are.

  ACCEPT THAT COMPLAINTS ARE UNAVOIDABLE, REACT QUICKLY, AND YOUR CUSTOMER WILL ACCEPT YOU

  No human is perfect, and therefore nor is any organization. Your company will surely make errors, and now, thanks to social networks, the whole world can easily find out about these mistakes. But you have the ability, also, to show the world how responsive a company you are. If you can respond quickly and authentically, with an apology and a solution, you can avoid damage to your reputation. Furthermore, if you provide an additional reward to your customers when the issue arises, you can actually turn your response and customer care into a marketing asset.

  RESPOND TO GOOD COMMENTS

  “Excuse me, sir,” a well-dressed woman says to you in the aisle of your department store. “But I just wanted to take a moment to thank you for everything you and your company have done for me throughout the years. I am a longtime, happy customer and you’ve truly brought joy to my life. Thanks, and keep up the great work.” You stare at her with a blank expression on your face, then turn and quickly walk away in fear there may be a complaining customer that you need to attend to elsewhere in the store. This situation is absurd, of course, and would never happen. You’d never reject a happy customer. Instead, you would welcome her with open arms and invite her to share more. You likely embrace your happiest customers—they remind you of what you’re doing well and what your organization is all about. They’re also the best unplanned part of your marketing agenda. Word-of-mouth endorsements and conversation from satisfied customers remains the most potentially powerful marketing tool you have. Yet each day, millions of positive comments to and about brands on social networks go unnoticed or are given no response.

  Visit Facebook pages of most big organizations and you’ll find people sharing stories, asking questions, and praising product’s services almost always without a response. Do companies not have enough resources to address these posts? Are they too focused on maintaining a defensive posture in regards to the entire negative comments and therefore decide not to re
ply to comments at all? Do companies not see value in responding to positive posts? Whatever the reasons, they are making a mistake, possibly to your company’s advantage. If your organization begins to foot only negative posts and comments, instead of positive ones and takes action in responding, you are ahead of the game. In fact, if other companies aren’t doing a good job interacting with their customers or prospects through online social networking, your company looks even better to consumers when you take the initiative. ACKNOWLEDGMENT ALONE GOES A LONG WAY—GET CREATIVE! Just as the two simple words “I’m sorry” go a long way when a customer complains, so do the words “Thank you” when a customer has something nice to say. “Thank you” says “You matter.” “Thank you” says “We’re listening.” “Thank you” says “We appreciate you.” It’s best to further personalize your response as well, sharing your brand personality a little bit.

  DEVELOP YOUR SOCIAL PERSONALITY

  Brand personality is formed by giving your brand human traits when presenting your company to the public. Your brand’s social personality sets you apart from other brands, giving your company unique features in an attempt to connect more directly and more humanly with your consumer. For example, the voice wording you use to respond to posts helps shape your personality. Here are several different ways to say thanks to a positive comment, while expressing the personality behind the brand.

  Acknowledging your customer’s positive feedback is easier today than it has ever been before. With the advent of the social access directly to your consumer, you are now able to show that, as a brand, you truly care about your customers. Responding in Your Brand’s Voice Language is a major part of your brand identity. Would a bank use the same language face-to-face with customers that a pizzeria would? Would a pediatrician discuss a medical condition with her patients using the same language an oncologist would with his? How about a major brand targeting its teenage customers using the same language as it does in an ad for adults? Just as you use different language to talk to different customers face-to-face, or in advertising and marketing, based upon who they are and what your organization is all about, so must you consider the language you use on social networks in your responses.