Customer tweet-back

Providing customer feedback used to mean filling out a suggestions card, dropping it into the suggestions box and then hoping someone relevant would someday read it and if you were lucky, even respond. Since few if any of us ever got free lunches or complimentary lawn suits in the mail, it seems apt to assume that no one really bothered to read those comments after all.
But now thanks to the growing reach of social media, when customers crib companies better listen up because even if they don , just about everyone else will. So whether its a less-than-moving theatrical performance or a Rs7000-ladies suit with holes in the stitching; social media platforms are increasingly being used by irate customers to vent their fury.
And not being available online to cajole these clients is not a viable option. Scott Stratten, the President of Unmarketing is an expert of social media and its use to connect firms and their customers. Talking about brands that "don want to use social media because they
e afraid of negative interactions", he points out that "the negative brand sentiment doesn vanish because you
e not there to yell at. It just gets unheard and therefore anger brews."
Companies like KESC and SSGC have realised this and so they maintain active presence on social media encouraging customers to interact directly with them. It also gives the companies a chance to show others using the social network that it has responded promptly and professionally to the complaints.
Not all companies can afford to employ teams of dedicated professionals to manage their social media profiles, so specialised firms are now cropping up to whom this task may be outsourced. But critics argue that this approach brings social media presence at the expense of maintaining brand persona.
But even if their brand does not maintain an official presence on Twitter, Facebook or any other major social website; brand managers would be well advised to scour these platforms regularly to listen in on what people have to say about them.