If you buy a 12-inch sub, are you likely to measure it if it seems a little short? We all don’t appreciate being short, but where is the line drawn when we are called to action? And to what degree will these Subway response mistakes to a social comment go?
Their customers are applying their measuring tapes after an Internet posting that claimed a short-shifting of the worldwide chain’s famous footlong sub.
The controversy began Tuesday in Australia when a customer bought a footlong sub and then pulled out a tape measure and found the sub measured only 11 inches long.
His action was to take his dissatisfaction with Facebook, where he posted a photo of his sub alongside the tape measure on the company’s page with the caption, “subway pls respond.”
Screengrabs taken of his image and reposted online show the photo quickly received more than 131,000 likes and thousands of comments.
Related post: Some Great Story and Storytelling Examples to Study
So what should have Subway done for an early response to this viral social media by its customers?
Here is what we would recommend to Subway executives:
It just is logical that you occasionally deal with negative customers, no matter how good you are. How well you deal with these customers will determine whether you are dealing with a crisis or a non-issue.
So it is wise to have a response plan defining how you would respond before you receive any such comments. Note that part of the response plan requires action prior to receiving negative comments from customers.
But don’t censor. Listen carefully and try to understand your customers’ viewpoints.
Respond directly
Early response time really matters. Time is critical and you have very little.
Always betransparent
Explain without offering excuses. Remain calm under fire at all costs.
Fix the problem
If there is one. Acknowledge the issue and communicate your solution.
Look for and create opportunity
Can you turn the problem into an opportunity?
Don’t neglect to spend time finding the opportunity from your adversity … it often will not jump out at you.
Funnel comments/concerns
Keep your staff informed and engaged. Keep everyone in the loop and up to speed.
Build a community
A community of passionate defenders. Let them defend you with their views.
Humanize your brand
Create a brand personality through laughter and having fun in the workplace. Always wear your enthusiasm and your passion.
Know when to walk away
Be prepared to walk away if it is a lose-lose situation and you see you are not making headway. When is the issue over? Sometimes it is obvious, sometimes not … but monitor closely for a while.
Remember … your customers are not always right, but they always have the right to choose. And they do, they will tell their friends about their experiences and their choices.
The bottom line
With companies today, contending with new dimensions of competition– shaping malleable situations, adapting to uncertain ones, and surviving harsh ones – all require new approaches.
Team coaching is one of the new collaborative cultural norms in creating high-performing and faster-moving teams, and within collaborative communities, to lead in the imagination age, in today’s fast-changing world.
Need some help in capturing more customers from your social media marketing or advertising? Creative ideas to help the differentiation with your customers?
All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new ideas.
When things are not what you want them to be, what’s most important is your next step.
Test. Learn. Improve. Repeat.
Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change. We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way.
More reading on social media marketing and advertising from Digital Spark Marketing’s Library:
Mike Schoultz is a digital marketing and customer service expert. With 48 years of business experience, he consults on, and writes about topics to help improve the performance of small business. Find him on Facebook, Twitter, Quora, Digital Spark Marketing, and LinkedIn.
Do you have a social media crisis management plan for customer crisis or perhaps just normal customer engagement? Maybe you should check out the Gucci social crisis plan.
It is just logical that you engage with all sorts of customers. No matter how good you are, you need to have a social media response plan.
How well you deal with these customers will determine whether you are dealing with a crisis or a non-issue.
Many people like to say things like “whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” or “every crisis is an opportunity,” but the truth is that there is nothing good about a crisis. They are horrible, soul-wrenching things. You do what you can to minimize the damage, but there’s no way to eliminate it completely.
The one positive thing that can be said about crises is that they eventually end. Today, the US economy is growing at a decent rate again, our financial system is well-capitalized, housing prices are rising and the Bureau of Labor recently announced that there are more people employed in America than ever before in history.
Can you remember an instance where your business was not prepared for a social media incident? As a result, what action did you take first? Please help us by sharing your story.
Social media has come a long way since then as have the strategies, tactics, methods, and power.
In reality, a successful social media marketing campaign is multi-dimensional.
Actually, it’s kind of complicated. Ask any social media marketer “How do you do social media marketing?” and you’re likely to get the “Um, where do I start?” look.
There are a lot of elements to address and minute details to cover.
Often, the most difficult stage is the initial one. You know, the one when you’re trying to gain traction and pick up momentum.
One of the benefits of social media is undoubtedly its immediacy and its timeliness.
It gives the businesses a better way to be present with their audience in almost any situation. It is all about sharing continuous information from wherever they are.
It also is an awesome means of ongoing discussions that can’t always be limited to a contained period.
It is this very reason that social media is one of the most widely-used ways that brands connect with their audiences, particularly in times of crisis.
When hit by complications; difficulties, and perhaps even blind panic, brands need a way to cut through the confusion. They need the means to reach out to their customers.
Social media permits taking decisive responsibility for the matter at hand and laying out a clear plan of action.
So it is wise to prepare a response plan how you would respond before you receive any such comments.
Note that part of the response plan requires action before receiving negative comments from customers.
Here are the key elements of a response plan we recommend to our clients:
Gucci social crisis plan … humanize the brand
Always create a personality through laughter and having fun in the workplace.
Be able to laugh at yourself. Wear your enthusiasm and your passion at all times.
Keep your staffinformed
Provide all information to your staff. Keep everyone in the loop and up to speed.
Waste no time diving into the conversation the moment a crisis strikes, and silence should NOT be an option.
The sooner you can prove to customers that you are present and dedicated to addressing an issue; the sooner you will earn your customers’ trust.
If possible, making customers aware of a service disruption or impending blunder before it has even happened is highly advised.
This will this show transparency and garner more respect for your brand. It will also give you a chance to offer instructions to customers and allow them to make appropriate preparations.
Have a consistent response platform
It is advisable that brands limit the number of places that people feel they need to look to find dedicated information regarding a crisis.
Otherwise, information can become scattered and misinterpreted; and focus can be lost.
Choose one platform to which all of the detailed information will be posted.
Use your other platforms to direct the flow of user traffic towards your primary source.
Build a call to action
If there’s one thing that customers hate more than a service crisis, it’s being left hanging with no instruction or advice on what to do next.
It doesn’t matter that you can’t provide an explanation for the crisis just yet – people don’t like to be kept waiting.
It’s important to give explicit calls to action in your updates.
These can be as simple as directing customers towards external sources of advice.
Or they can be giving practical tips on what they could do to minimize the impact of the emergency.
Create an opportunity
Try to turn the problem into an opportunity.
Don’t neglect to spend time finding the opportunity from your adversity … it often will not jump out at you, will it?
Keep your cool
There will indeed be cases where illegitimate feeds of information will somehow seep into the airwaves. They will be giving false information or unsourced explanations surrounding the crisis.
It’s tempting to react aggressively towards these feeds by attempts to censor the information. However, it is advisable that you don’t.
Doing so could further think the integrity of your brand and lead users to think you have something to hide.
Know when to back away
If it is a lose-lose situation and you see you are not making headway, be prepared to walk away.
When is the issue no longer valid? Sometimes it is obvious, sometimes not … but monitor closely for a while.
The bottom line
If you’ve correctly taken charge of the conversation with an appropriate hashtag as mentioned earlier, all other illegitimate information should just be left alone.
If it is necessary, warn your audience against such sources and remind them that for all official updates on the matter, you’re the one to turn to.
All that’s left then is to deliver a trustworthy, responsible and genuinely useful stream of updates that your customers can truly depend on.
Remember that your customers are not always right, but they always have the right to choose. And when they do, they will tell their friends about their experiences and their choices.
Please share one of your experiences with negative on-line customers. Any questions or comments to add?
Need some help in capturing more customers from your social media marketing or advertising? Creative ideas to help the differentiation with your customers?
Call today for a FREE consultation or a FREE quote. Learn about some options to scope your job.
Call Mike at 607-725-8240.
All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new ideas.
When things are not what you want them to be, what’s most important is your next step. Call today.
Test. Learn. Improve. Repeat.
Are you devoting enough energy innovating your social media strategy?
Do you have a lesson about making your advertising better you can share with this community? Have any questions or comments to add in the section below?
Mike Schoultz is the founder of Digital Spark Marketing, a digital marketing and customer service agency. With 40 years of business experience, he writes about topics to help improve the performance of small business. Find him on G+, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change. We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way. Call us for a free quote today. You will be amazed at how reasonable we will be.
More reading on social media marketing and advertising from Digital Spark Marketing’s Library:
