While promoting our recent eBook about real online customer experiences, I reached out to people that I thought might be interested. When Marketing Sherpa’s Director of Editorial Content, Daniel Burstein responded and asked me to share some thoughts on the topic of social media policing I was pretty excited. However, my esteemed colleague Dr. Ursula Ron, also answered Daniel’s question and her email to him hit bullseye. While her comments found immortal fame on the Marketing Sherpa blog, my response about how to proactively manage your social channels, can be read below.

Laissez Faire is NOT a Plan for LinkedIn Groups or Facebook Fan Pages

Marketing Sherpa wanted to know how far marketers should go to police their LinkedIn Groups, Facebook Fan Pages, and other similar online forums. These social media pages, while designed for discussion, can get filled with inappropriate content. In his post Burstein makes a great case for setting up clear rules of engagement and enforcing them. While Burstein focuses on comments that are off-topic or promotional (like pushing Viagra on a B2B Linkedin group), he doesn’t really address the damage that negative or critical comments, made in the social sphere, can have on a company’s reputation.

Drive Positive, Public Social Activity with a Private Online Feedback Channel

Imagine you are a boutique mountain bike shop just getting off the ground. If a disgruntled customer leaves a scathing, very public comment on your Facebook page, your business could take a serious spill. You want to maintain an open online forum for where bikers can make suggestions and even criticize, but not at all costs. So how do you keep your social backyard clean?

In our experience, businesses need to be proactive in online customer engagement to successfully drive social activity that is more relevant and positive – all without over-policing. Most social media users prefer to have their issues addressed by the company concerned before “resorting” to social media as a tool to vent their frustration. Companies that offer their customers an opportunity to share feedback via a private channel, generally see a significant decrease in negative comments posted on their social media assets. On the other hand, attempts to police negative comments on Facebook and the like – without providing any alternative feedback channel – are not well received by customers and social media users.

How does your company balance an open social space while protecting brand image? Please share your experiences in the comments section below.

About the author

Zev Schonberg is a Marketing Communications Manager at Kampyle. He loves learning about how technology impacts business, mountain biking and writing an occasional blog post.

You can connect with Zev via Google+, Twitter or LinkedIn.

Feel free to get in touch with him about Kampyle, mountain biking, or tips on being a parent for 5 great kids!

For more information about Kampyle – contact us today!

New to Kampyle? Request a Demo!

You are welcome to request a tailored live demo to meet your business needs. Our experienced consultants give you actionable advice and a thorough
overview of Kampyle’s Feedback Solutions.