Bloggers don’t mind brands making mistakes…
By Molly Flatt…we mind them not apologising.
I was browsing some WOM from our latest client event when I came across Hayley’s latest post ‘House of Fraser Fail’.
Yesterday, Hayley posted an account of her less-than-glorious experience with a House of Fraser personal shopper. Although she had some pretty bad service, it was a light-hearted, balanced post, encouraging the store to up their act. She even sent it in an email to their website so they could use the feedback
Today, she received a comment on her post which she traced back to the House of Fraser server.
As Hayley says, “For a company who, lets face it, probably would like all those 20 somethings coming and spending their disposable income in store, this is quite a cockup. Social media, such as blogs and Twitter, is quite an important thing in terms of advertising these days. Within 5 minutes of posting the above picture on Twitter, I’d had lots of replies from people saying how disgusted they were.”
But that’s not really the issue.
Lots of employees are still unfamiliar with social media etiquette. Many won’t have been invited to a conversation with management which outlines best practice and the need to remember that you’re a company rep when giving opinions about them online. Consumers don’t expect brands to be perfect.
No, the real problem comes in the subsequent silence. Despite Hayley’s generous call out that “perhaps theres a really good reason for this. House of Fraser, I can’t wait for your reply!” they have apparently failed to respond in any way.
Is it because they don’t care? Is it because they’re twisting themselves in knots trying to think of a strategic thing to do, rather than just reaching out and saying ‘Sorry, our bad. We’ll do our best. In the meantime, have this discount on us.’
Or, most likely, is this because they simply aren’t listening?
Nowadays, we expect it. Not listening is not an option any more.
