How to Complain Through Social Media
To be heard and to solve the issues with businesses faster, the consumer should exhaust all possible means and be inventive. Along with sources like BBB, Google reviews, PissedConsumer.com, there are social media networks where customers share their experience.
Turns out, social media serves excellent platforms where the pissed customer can get support from society and reach out for customer support representatives. But how to complain through social media effectively and draw people’s attention to your problem?
Here are DOs and DON’Ts to make this way easier for you.
Why you should complain via social media
Companies that want to raise brand awareness in the customers’ mind use every possible way to make up a positive image. Especially, it concerns the firms that have just stood up on commercial rails and are unknown to the general public. Not to ruin brand image social media customer service seeks every way to resolve your complaint as soon as possible. All you have to do is to convey your issue in a correct way.
Do’s and Don’ts for complaining in social media
To get your issue resolved in the shortest time, keep in mind DOs and DON’Ts that will boost your chances for the “happy end”.
DOs
Register with all the social media websites and blogs. To be ready to get help from social media customer service, you need to have an account on the most popular social media networks: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. And you should be registered in the following blogs: Quora, Reddit, WordPress etc. Even if you don’t find the business page on any of these websites you may find the people who have the same issues or even scammed groups.
Be active and real. To be noticed by a company’s customer service through social media use real name and real contact information. Fake usernames and data can make them think that you are a spammer or a troll and your issue can be ignored. Also your account should be active for the same reasons.
Research company’s presence on the social media websites. It’s necessary to search for all the present social media channels of the company. You may just use Google to search for company’s profiles like “CompanyName Facebook” or “Twitter” or look for the links to them on the main company website. Also check if the company has an additional customer support page.
Read carefully the exact time when the customer support is ready to reply. Some companies can work 24/7 whereas others can respond only during particular working hours. Check the special badges on social media networks. For example, the social media customer support that is available on a 24-hour basis, 7 days a week has a badge “Responsive 24/7” on Twitter.
Trace the activity of customer service via social media, their response time. For example, such a social media network like Facebook has badges like: ”100% response rate, 6-hours response time” or “ Typically replies instantly” to show how fast the customer support representatives respond to their customers.
Also search how the company handles the complaints and whether there are many unsatisfied customers with the same issues. Also check if the company hides or deletes negative posts. Just positive feedback can give you a hint that they are probably fake.
Follow the company. If you have found the company’s business page, don’t hesitate to follow it. Then send a private message to the customer support directly, if you couldn’t get a hold of them before. Such communication is much faster than the one by phone or snail mail, but don’t expect the answer within a minute. It can take some time so don’t worry.
Company’s notification. A good alternative to following the company is notifying the company. You may just post your review on your social media page and add @CompanyName on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. The social media customer support will get a notification that someone has published a post that contains the name of their company. And if you’ve failed to put through to the customer support representatives, it will draw their attention to your issue. But be careful with the company’s name on social media networks.
For example, Outback Steakhouse on Twitter is just @Outback. To avoid confusion, look up the social media links on the official website of the company. Or use the hints from search boxes on the social media networks.
Complain correctly and reasonably. To be heard and taken seriously by customer service through social media you should explain your concern in the right way. Firstly, be polite. It’s important to be courteous because the person, who will read your message, does it for the first time. The representative has no idea about your experience so don’t spoil your relationships from the start.
Secondly, make your complaint readable. Use good grammar, punctuation and sentence structure. Make your language as simple as possible. If you’re not sure about all the above-mentioned points, type in Word and use spell-checker. Also, try to build up your complaint in a logical way. Especially it works well for blogs and review sites. Use proper titles that can be picked up by a search engine. The review title should contain the company’s name and a catchy heading.
Use facts, real names and details. Include the necessary data like, for example, the number of your order, sales representatives’ names, the address of the store or an office where you purchased the goods etc. All these details will make your complaint more down-to-earth and worth the company’s attention.
Be creative. Of course, if you’re getting in touch with the company directly, it’s unnecessary. But in case you’re escalating an issue with customer service via social media and want to stand out of the crowd, you need to use extraordinary tools. For example, to tell your story in an amusing way, make a funny video post etc.
Use the media as a proof. Website Hubspot.com claims that visual content is more than 40 times more likely to get shared on social media than other types of content. If you long for public attention use photos, videos and other infographic items as the main weapon in the brand attack. Moreover, photos of receipts and damaged goods are the best evidence of your genuine concern.
Use hashtags effectively. To be picked up by the people with the same issues and customer support representatives, you have to use hashtags effectively. Choose the most popular ones and include them into your post. Fortunately, social media networks can give you a hint with it, but do not use too much. Make your post clear, not excessive.
Get friends’ assistance. Do not hesitate to ask your friends and family members to share your issue on their pages. It will help to make your post even more visible and engage more users. The last thing the company wants is to be infamous.
Stay updated. If your scenario turns out to be dramatic and you haven’t received your response after the first attempt, try to publish updates. For example, “30 days have passed, no response from Company Name” or something like that. In case you’re lucky enough to have your issue resolved, post an update on how you’ve managed to reach out to the company’s customer service through social media. Other unhappy customers will find it more than useful.
Use review platforms If you are looking for additional support and publicity, use the assistance of review platforms like Pissed Consumer on social media networks. It will increase your chances of being seen by the general public. You can amplify your Social Media voice by tagging the name of the platform in your post..
DON’Ts
Be Excessive. Do not write too much. Social media customer support can lose the point and interest in your issue. Also do not overflood with your messages. They can be annoyed and ignore you on purpose.
Be unrealistic. Leave out exaggerations. Be passionate but fair and you’ll get compassion and support.
Use bad language. Do not swear and get personal. Keep strict to the point without calling names and using personal details. Otherwise, your post can be deleted or simply unanswered.
Expect immediate actions. It takes time to fix the problem. Be passionate to give the company little time to research and satisfy your expectation of “good customer service”.
Give up. People are unpredictable as well as their company’s policies. And what works for one company may not work for another. Be ready for a possible negative outcome, but do your best to use your chances.
Complaining through social media has numerous pros: it’s an easy and fast way of communication with the company; you may be seen, heard and supported by millions of people; you may warn the intended consumers and help pissed customers to resolve the problem.
In fact, companies tend to handle complaints on social media rather promptly and solve a good portion of complaints effectively, even though it is still considered to be a less formal means of communication. And not all the companies may take such complaints seriously. Nevertheless, we can not underestimate the power of social media complaints and it is worth trying to write them for sure.
