The “Stigma” Associated with Social Media Sites for Companies—Does it Exist?

By Cara Schultz

Some companies are diving right into social media Websites, while other companies are slightly more hesitant when it comes to setting up a Facebook page or Twitter account. Although the idea of a disgruntled customer leaving negative feedback can be a bit intimidating to any company, a recent study from Pennsylvania State University confirmed that is usually not the case. After studying nearly 150,000 tweets, they came to a few positive conclusions. An article posted by eMarketer states, “Just 22.3% of tweets about brands expressed an opinion one way or another. The good news: Twitter users were much more likely to express positive sentiments than negative.”

   

What are your reservations with jumping on the social media bandwagon? Have you had a positive experience with social media sites and your customers? Chime in with your thoughts and opinions; we love to hear what you have to say!

Comments

[Irina Skaya]

Before jumping in and immersing themselves in the deep waters of social media, marketers need to be comfortable with the fact that all of the comments they receive won't be positive. Twitter for example is often used as a customer-service tool. Twitter and many other platforms are like free focus groups. Why pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to conduct the same research about brand awareness and loyalty that you can get for free and a lot quicker via social media? Yes, you don't have control over what consumers are saying but you DO have control over your actions, meaning how will you respond. Conversation monitoring is key, and establishing parameters about what constitutes positive, negative, and neutral comments is important. Take a look at the Motrin case study and the steps they missed out on when they received negative social media attention in response to the TV commercial about babies being accessories and pain baby wearing causes.

[Kristina]

With the rise of social networking, many companies are enacting a 'Social Media Policy' due to incidents with networking websites. The policy is a product of negative feedback and correspondence posted on these sites, ultimately resulting in corrective action and sometimes termination for employees. Though these sites prove to be helpful with forming and strengthening client relationships, they can also create both internal and external issues for the client, company and employee.