Brand Promise - Social Media

I had an 'interesting' interaction with a Real Estate Agent the other day. Harrassment; borderline, yes. Productive; absolutely no. It turns out that I wasn't the only one, with a post in my local Facebook neighbourhood group going viral about exactly the same thing.

The Agent, whom I know personally has spent years successfully building their brand to the point of wide recognition. Their response to the post, however was deafening silence. What ensued was an unabated hot oil bath of the brand, eventually (and thankfully) resulting in the post and thread being taken down. Significant damage to the brand occurred in an industry where brand is absolutely everything.

In my conversation with the agent, their simple view was, "Well we are just doing the best at what we know how to do." Clearly, something had gone awry, with many making comments showing that the 'brand promise' of the agency was failing and that "doing the best" isn't extending to the edge of their network in a positive way.

For what it is worth, my view is that the Brand Promise of a B2C business speaks most loudly in this economy through Social Media. Any fallout and bad vibes can be managed, but the response must be:

Public

Go straight to the ring and get in it. Dancing around the conflict will only get you more body blows. Getting straight into the source of conflict means that detractors are seeing you act to try to a) resolve the issue and b) take remedial action to prevent it happening again.

Immediate

"We will just wait until the storm blows over." Wrong. Doing nothing, or even waiting until dust settles will only allow competitors to take valuable ground, in turn de-positioning the brand even further. Inaction is perceived as laziness, cowardice or over-confidence.

Specific

Any response needs to address the specific issue, rather than to provide motherhood statements about ethics, company policy or, even worse "Vision for the future". Address the exact issue that stakeholders are talking about , with remedial statements and actions.

Humble

Defensiveness is brand arrogance in the consumer eye. Cop it on the chin (back to the boxing analogy) and openly accept feedback. Getting defensive, or not admitting to messing up just says that the customer is wrong and you are right.

Conversely, admitting the mess up, specifying corrective action and providing, in writing, the avenue through which grievance may be communicated will not only show humility, but you may also find out about other issues that are simmering.

We all operate in a digital world and, like it or not, Social Media is the most open and exposed platform for good news or bad. Unfortunately, bad news travels at lightning speed. So to not address it could spell disaster.