Using Social Media to Solicit Feedback
In the forties, kids anxiously awaited for their favorite radio shows. In the fifties, sixties and seventies, they were glued to their TV sets.
And then they hit: video games.
Generations who grew up in the eighties did not see entertainment as a passive activity. The characters on the screen did exactly what their Atari joysticks told them to do. People often 40 and under tend to look at companies the same way too.
Feedback is one of your greatest assets as a business owner. Previous generations had to hold focus groups or rely that customers would actually bother to fill out surveys. As a business owner now, there are feedback tools available to you for free.
1.) Twitter. People who aren’t on @twitter don’t seem to get it. Think of Twitter as a big conference room with all sorts of people talking about all sorts of things. If you send a person a message with their twitter name like this (@michellegreer), you can direct that message to their attention while still allowing your followers to see it.
Why is this useful? Because someone can send a message to @yourtwittername with feedback about your company and you can respond back.
You can also set up quick polls on Twitter to ask your customers questions with twtpoll.com. This takes less than five minutes to set up.
2.) Blogging. People can leave comments on your blog with what they like and don’t like. They can now use Google SideWiki to comment on your site. Don’t be afraid if someone doesn’t like something. Often your worst critic is the one who cares about you the most.
As a business owner, sometimes it can be hard to figure out what you want to offer next to customers. Why not ask them? If you are using WordPress, you can use a plugin called WP Polls to get feedback from customers. If you post this on your site, in your newsletter, and on various social networks, you’ll be more inclined to get a bigger sample of customers.
3.) Surveys. As much as many social media experts don’t want to admit it, a lot of people still read email. Tools like Survey Monkey and Emma Email Marketer allow you to send a survey and ask how their experience has been.
4.) Ask for product reviews. Studies show that even negative product reviews increase conversions. Customers know you are going to have a high opinion of your product. Do others? So as to encourage customers to leave feedback, consider sending a follow up email after the sale asking for a review. This can be automated using javascript and an email marketing product that allows for triggers.
Most importantly, let your customers know that you are happy to take the bad feedback with the good. Advertise all and any way you accept feedback. If you start with a passionate and knowledgeable customer base, you will end up with a very solid online store.
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