How not to Use Social Media, Part 2
Earlier today I noted that whoever is running the official Facebook fan page for Welch Village wasn't, to put it politely, using it well.
I just looked at the page a few minutes and noticed a few other choice items. For example, on December 7, a fan asked "Any more runs open today???" The official reply was "What does the snow report on our website say?"
I've been an Internet/e-mail user long enough to know that it's hard to infer someone's emotional state from the written word alone, but as I read it, that response conveys boredom, contempt, or both.
On December 8, in response to someone's question, Welch replied "We will post the weekend outlook by Thursday. We should have about 20 runs or so." That was a fine response. Then shortly after, the Welch Facebook person added, "I'm sure someone will ask why we won't have more..."
Get snippy with your customers much?
On December 9, the tone continued to be less than responsive. In response to the question, "What's your guys plan for opening runs?," the Welch Facebook manager answered "We plan to open more."
A better response, of course, would be something like "We're aiming to open runs X and Y first," or "We want to open these kinds of runs first" or even "Everything depends on the weather, but we think we can have all the runs covered in ___ days if all goes well." Instead, the Facebook manager appears to have let the negative attitudes of a few people goad him (or her) into adopting a surly attitude.
And now for the fact that drove me to write this post: Someone at Welch Village has apparently removed some of the nasty back-and-forth exchanges that were previously on the fan page. In one exchange, someone said, in effect, "Hey, why are you insulting your customers?" That's exactly what I thought. Even if your customers deserve to be insulted, you shouldn't do it. Nor should you enter into new media if you're going to whitewash history.
I just looked at the page a few minutes and noticed a few other choice items. For example, on December 7, a fan asked "Any more runs open today???" The official reply was "What does the snow report on our website say?"
I've been an Internet/e-mail user long enough to know that it's hard to infer someone's emotional state from the written word alone, but as I read it, that response conveys boredom, contempt, or both.
On December 8, in response to someone's question, Welch replied "We will post the weekend outlook by Thursday. We should have about 20 runs or so." That was a fine response. Then shortly after, the Welch Facebook person added, "I'm sure someone will ask why we won't have more..."
Get snippy with your customers much?
On December 9, the tone continued to be less than responsive. In response to the question, "What's your guys plan for opening runs?," the Welch Facebook manager answered "We plan to open more."
A better response, of course, would be something like "We're aiming to open runs X and Y first," or "We want to open these kinds of runs first" or even "Everything depends on the weather, but we think we can have all the runs covered in ___ days if all goes well." Instead, the Facebook manager appears to have let the negative attitudes of a few people goad him (or her) into adopting a surly attitude.
And now for the fact that drove me to write this post: Someone at Welch Village has apparently removed some of the nasty back-and-forth exchanges that were previously on the fan page. In one exchange, someone said, in effect, "Hey, why are you insulting your customers?" That's exactly what I thought. Even if your customers deserve to be insulted, you shouldn't do it. Nor should you enter into new media if you're going to whitewash history.
Labels: social media
posted at 7:20 PM
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