How do you usually handle the feedback you receive? Do you have a clear strategy for managing and engaging with your audience? In this article, we will discuss effective approaches to enhance audience engagement and foster brand loyalty by appropriately responding to mentions of your brand online.
Numbers are not everything
Marketers frequently rely on engagement metrics to assess the effectiveness of their content. However, while these metrics are useful for quantifying interactivity, they offer limited insights into the sentiment of the audience.
To truly understand how your audience perceives your brand, qualitative measurement is necessary. This involves capturing and analyzing feedback to gain a deeper understanding of their sentiments. Additionally, timely and qualitative responses to this feedback are often crucial in effectively managing the situation.
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The way you respond to both positive and negative reviews has the power to significantly impact how individuals perceive and think about your brand. Moreover, if these interactions occur in a public space such as a forum, review thread, or social media platform, your responses can also influence the opinions of others towards your brand. It is essential to recognize the potential impact of your dialogue and ensure that your responses effectively shape a positive perception of your brand among both the individuals directly involved and the wider audience.
Elements of a feedback strategy
To effectively handle feedback, it is crucial to establish a systematic approach that all team members responsible for content and community building can follow. This ensures consistency and enables a unified response strategy. In this article, we aim to provide you with some inspiring ideas to help you.
Invitation to dialogue
Everyone wants to be heard, which is why it is so important to respond to comments on social media or emails directed towards your brand. By doing so, you demonstrate that you have noticed the person’s message and their emotions. This act of responsiveness not only shows empathy but also fosters a sense of connection and understanding between your brand and its audience.
Recognition of critics and haters
It is not uncommon for individuals to express themselves in a less than courteous manner online, as user reviews can sometimes be filled with anger and rudeness. Additionally, many of these individuals choose to hide behind anonymous accounts, making it challenging to initiate a conversation with someone who only emerges when they desire to do so.
Dealing with such situations can be perplexing, as it may be unclear how to engage with individuals who prefer to remain hidden and only surface when they have something to say. However, it is important to approach these interactions with patience and professionalism, focusing on addressing their concerns or feedback while maintaining a respectful tone. By doing so, you can demonstrate your commitment to open dialogue and potentially turn a negative experience into a positive one.
Often a simple wording will suffice:
“Thank you for your comment”.
It is not a good idea to argue with a hater — it only inflames the conflict and gives them what they want, which is a reaction to which they can respond with more hate.
Of course, if a critic has provided factually incorrect information, it is appropriate to respond calmly and provide the correct information in your reply. However, it is advisable to avoid engaging in a back-and-forth exchange with the individual in subsequent posts. Continuously responding to their follow-up comments may give the impression that they deserve more of your attention, which can be counterproductive.
Take the conversation in a different direction
Social media feedback operates in a way that allows your audience to witness the dialogue in real time. If you are not prepared to continue the conversation publicly, it is advisable to encourage the critics to reach out to you directly. You can provide your company’s email address and/or phone number in your response. Even if the commenters do not contact you directly (they hardly will), this action demonstrates to your audience that you have made an effort to resolve the issue. By offering a direct means of communication, you show your commitment to resolving concerns and maintaining open lines of dialogue with your audience.
Feedback and response plan
Frequently, brands’ responses on social networks are triggered by specific comments. However, there may be instances where certain messages are overlooked, leaving it unclear how the decision is made regarding whom to respond to and whom not to respond to. In such cases, the audience that does not receive a response may feel slighted or disregarded, especially when they see others being acknowledged by the brand.
It is important to be mindful of this potential perception and strive for fairness and inclusivity in your responses. While it may not be possible to respond to every single comment, making an effort to engage with a diverse range of audience members can help mitigate any feelings of exclusion. Additionally, setting clear guidelines or criteria for responding to comments can provide transparency and manage expectations, ensuring that your audience understands the approach you take in addressing their feedback.
Conclusion
By implementing a well-defined feedback engagement strategy, your brand can reap the benefits of both positive and negative feedback, and in turn, so will your audience. Such a strategy allows you to effectively address and respond to feedback, fostering a sense of connection and trust with your audience. Embracing feedback, whether it is positive or negative, provides valuable insights and opportunities for improvement, ultimately leading to a stronger and more customer-centric brand.
