Social Media to the rescue!

Having to take a cold shower in the morning when your electricity gets cut aint fun at all. Surfing those waves on a sunny afternoon just to find your eyelids stuck together because of the oil spill, is even worse. All these dilemmas creates a stir amongst the public. We are shouting and cursing in order to make our voices heard. But in most cases, this outcry falls on deaf ears.

How do we fill this communication gap between the public (customers) and the organisations? Two words: Social Media.

There are a few crucial points organisations needs to add to their crisis communication plan and use of social media to ensure a sustainable relationship with their customers. If not implemented, it might damage your brand and reputation.

Listen

Be all ears. Before any message can be constructed, you need to listen to your customers. Social Media is all about the express of emotions and opinions. Focus on their needs and not necessarily what they want. This is the time to gather any negative information about your organisation that’s been spreading like wild fire, and threatens to damage your reputation.

Construct message

What you want to communicate needs to be relevant and valuable. Make it interesting and to the point. If you beat around the bush, you might lose some clients. State reasons for the crisis at hand and communicate possible solutions to the problem. Don’t make this a sales pitch. Keep your content focused around the crisis.

Engage in two-way communication

Publish your messages on Twitter, Facebook, MySpace or any other social media platform, and promote two-way communication. Always ask your customers for feedback by encouraging them to participate in any discussion to express their feelings and opinions.

Actions speaks louder than words

If you promise something, keep to it. Your customers will want to see you act on what you say to them.

Build long-term sustainable relationships

Make this an ongoing process to foster successful long-term relationships. If you listen to your customers and engage in two-way communication, the relationship will form rock solid. Make your clients feel special and show them that you value them. You don’t have to befriend your clients. Just keep it simple and professional.

Advantages of Social Media during a crisis time

• it’s a quick communication method to get those message across
• easy way to get feedback from your customers
• crisis can be solved within a few minutes or clicks
• the organisation have some control over the message flow
• reach a wide range of customers with one single message
• increases customer loyalty

Conclusion

Happy customers leads to satisfied buyers and ultimately in an increase of revenue. Use Social Media as the communication channel between you the organisation and the customers. Generating quality feedback and effective two-way communication is the best tool to solve any crisis. Give your customers the voice they need, and use this to your advantage.

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