Social Media Review Post #1
Listening is a vital part in any relationship. One of my biggest triggers in a relationship, whether a friendship or romantic, is not being heard or listened to. Everyone wants to be heard and when you have to constantly repeat yourself to make yourself feel heard it not only angers you but makes you feel inadequate in many ways. This idea is true not just of friendships and romantic relationships but it is also a vital aspect of the relationship between a consumer and a business.
In his book “Likeable Social Media”, Dave Kerpen discusses the important part that listening plays in the success of any business. The goal of any business is to serve its consumers to the best of its ability. In order to do so effectively they have to be willing to listen to their customers and implement those changes.
Social Media has become the biggest tool for companies to begin to listen to their consumers. Through platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and more businesses now have a way to connect with their customers on a deeper level.
One example I saw of this recently was a story regarding a popular content creator on YouTube. Her name is Meghan Rienks and she had come to find that one of her channels on YouTube had been hacked. The people who had taken the channel had begun posting different content which was causing her to lose followers.
Once Rienks realized the situation she reached out to the support team at YouTube. However, she wasn’t receiving much help from those working at YouTube to resolve the issue. After posting about the situation on Twitter the situation changed.
Rienks began receiving support from verified and famous creators on Twitter causing things to change. YouTube then seemed to be much more willing to help her resolve the issue.
Eventually she gained access to her second account back and the publicity from the event helped YouTube to fix some of the problems that were found with how they responded to situations like Meghan’s.
While YouTube didn’t initially listen well to Rienks’ problems, with the help of social media and other popular creators, both Rienks and YouTube were able to resolve the issue. YouTube was also able to grow as a company and become more attune to the issues of its users.
Another example of listening on social media by businesses today is through Facebook. Many companies utilize Facebook to advertise its products as it is the most used social media site in the country.
JetBlue is one company that does a good job of responding to customer questions and complaints in a timely and respectful manner. They are a large travel company, but they also understand the importance of ensuring that customers feel heard both in person and online.
However, listening on social media doesn’t always have to be done when attempting to solve a problem or answer a question. Companies also utilize it to interact with customers in small and positive ways. These types of interactions usually occur on sites like Instagram.
Overall, listening is such a vital trait for both companies and people to have. It helps both entities grow in new ways and better prepares us for future interactions and endeavors.
