Week 2 Part A: Complaints and Praise through Comments

    Over the years social media has changed not only in platforms but also its role in business. Social Media has made it easier for businesses to get noticed and to solve problems. For example, Twitter is a social media site that allows people or business to post mini comments about their day or one another. When used correctly it can benefit your business by giving you free publicity/advertising but when used incorrectly you can end up with a lot of unhappy customers publicly shunning your business. Businesses have now begun to use it to actively listen for complaints and respond accordingly to people who have made comments about the business directly and in real time. Being able to comment directly to a customer makes it easier for the company to get noticed because how they handle the complaint in front of others could determine how people see them in the future. In the past people would need to either physically go to the business or call the businesses corporation to communicate a concern or give advice, but not anymore. Anyone can have their voice heard through social media.

    Generally, I am the type of person who reviews a product or business if I am dissatisfied or have been tremendously impressed. I had an unfortunate situation at a restaurant I went to where the server was extremely rude. I asked to speak to the manager. While having this conversation I noticed the manager was being rude and condescending as well. Instead of continuing this game I decided to leave the restaurant and gave them a terrible review. The company messaged me back and offered to pay for the food, I accepted and proceeded not to go to that location ever again. In the end I feel the company acted to the best of their abilities and I as the customer instead of arguing with their employees got a better response after the review than physically speaking to someone.

    If I owed a business, I would deal with positive or negative comments to the best of my ability. For negative comments I would try to resolve the issue as soon as possible. I think the company above did an excellent job at that since they messaged me back within the hour. I was extremely impressed and still support their business to this day. While for positive comments I would not make a lengthy response unless I felt I need to. I think a simple “Thank You” would suffice. Unless my company is huge then I would only respond to a select few every other day opposed to all of them.