Everyone is a Media Outlet

A previous discussion in my Social Media course gave me something to ponder: everyone is a media outlet. We have so much these days; Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and the like. We are all capable of sharing information and creating content. This brought me back around to a State Farm commercial I've been seeing a lot lately.

"They can't put anything on the internet that isn't true"....what a kick! But why do people want to fill the web with false information? False information serves no purpose and often backfires. Lately, a lot of incidents have been occurring in my hometown, like a teen dying at the high school or a gunman at the air force base. Since I'm not living there, the first thing I see about these things has been on social media sites. Turns out, much of what people initially post is false. Yes, something did happen; no, to all of the extra fluff and opinion-rumors. What inspires people to post statuses and tweets or blogs about issues they have little knowledge of? Has social media taken us so far off path that we HAVE to include our opinion, even if it is an uneducated one? Why do we expect companies to be completely transparent and truthful online, but endorse our peers when they post illegitimate information? One day, our peers (who are posting poor information) will be the ones behind the social media lines of these companies (who are expected to post truthful information). This poses the question: how long will we really be able to trust even the most reliable sources on the web?

Using Social Media the Right Way: Outraged Customers

When routinely scrolling through Facebook Monday evening, I stumbled across a friend who was outraged at the service she received from an arts and crafts furniture business. Of course I took interest in this drama and clicked thru to see what the hype was about. Pretty much, this girl wanted to buy a table at what she thought was a good deal, worked it out with the sellers, went to view it, and asked if they could repaint it. They told her yes, she offered a deposit, and they told her nothing was needed until she picked up the table. A few days passed and she did not hear from them and saw the table posted on Craigslist. After trying to contact the business, they ignored her.

As the typical Facebook user, I took the next step and visited the Facebook site of "She Sells Sea Shells Shabby Chic Furniture & Designs," and was appalled at what I found! 

From what I have learned collaboratively in some of my marketing courses, this is NOT the right way to approach a situation like this! Online, or in person. As an adult woman (seemingly, from the picture), the business owner/co-owner should not have responded the way she did on behalf of the business. I was in shock that the second owner's comment on the business page addressed the situation equally as poorly. 

I have a few critiques for the responses from "She Sells Sea Shells" owners. First of all, this Facebook page is entirely public. If I was a random consumer looking for some cute furniture, of course I am going to look through the recommendations on the page before I were to make a purchase, let alone contact the company to see about a price or other information to see if it is even worth doing. Have some etiquette! Negativity should never show up on a business's social media site on behalf of the business. I read this and felt like I was in 9th grade again when Lulu Thomson (not a real person) took Jenny Newman's (also not a real person) seat at the lunch table. They never said anything to each other, just beefed it out on the internet. Such a huge turnoff from this business!

Business etiquette on social media sites is not limited to the content of the message they are relaying, but also how they relay it. All capitalizations is never necessary, unless promoting the urgency of a sale of giveaway, and even then it is only slightly needed. It makes the social consumer feel like they are being yelled at, I feel like that, at least. I am sure many others feel the same! A million exclamation points is also unprofessional. It is okay to be fun and witty on social sites as a business, or on a business's behalf, but there is a time and a place. These two ladies running "She Sells Sea Shells" now look like to bimbos to me, and you, and everyone else who saw the initial posts on Facebook. Bad news spreads like the flu, and these ladies have lost themselves a ton of business as a result of their response to an outraged customer.

The phrases "lunatics" and "bad apples" are completely unnecessary for this site. Calling potential customers a lunatic? Alternative words could have been used here. Maybe instead of responding to the girl's initial post with phrases like this, they could have said "I am sorry you had a bad experience with us. Next time, enjoy half off on us," and left it at that. It is easier to have good customer service to earn loyal customers, which in turn will be more beneficial to the business in the future. Even if the girl did not want to shop with them ever again, at least they tried to limit the outrage, instead of making themselves look worse and calling her names. 

In the end, the business "She Sells" obviously lost this battle. If you read the main post picture above, at the very end, the outraged customer said she reported them to the IRS for doing cash-only business and not reporting it (for tax reasons, etc.). Yes this is illegal to do and they should be reporting to the IRS, but now they may be facing even greater financial consequences for not reporting the income in the first place! I am eager to check back in a few months to see if "She Sells Sea Shells" is still around.

Realizing the importance of handling customer outrage through social media in both what you say and how you say it, as well as how others are responding is a crucial side of using social media to interact with customers.