Word of mouth and the things that are posted on the internet, spread way faster than any other medium. While communicating with customers, posting about products, updating customers about discounts or anything that a company does on digital channels, is going to be there for a long time.
There are certain things that a company should refrain from practicing, as they are frowned upon in the world of digital marketing, and even if a company changes its stance, the things they have said or done in the past, can impact the reputation of their brand. Moreover, there are certain practices that would cost the company sales, revenues and even customers.
Proofreading
When marketers Tweet or post something on Facebook, they dont proofread what they have
posted. Often, there are spelling mistakes, grammatical mistakes and even accuracy mistakes that customers note, and then the post becomes a joke. Whenever a marketer posts something, or even uploads an e-book, it should always be proofread. Digital marketing leaves footprints, and people dont easily forget the mistakes that brands make on social media i loved this.
Most marketers dont fact check before posting content either. They mess up, dates, or names or even designations, and that is counted as spreading misinformation. If the reputation of a brand is noted for these editing errors, then customers are less likely to read their future content, no matter how accurate it is.
Using Facebook Only
Each and every social media platform presents a business with an opportunity, and it is the responsibility of the marketer to grab such opportunities. If a business uses Facebook only, then it is missing out on their target market that uses Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest or Tumblr. Using Facebook or just one social media accounts means that the brand is limiting itself, and they wont be as popular as those brands that are using multiple social media platforms.
Facebook is a great place to meet customers, and interact with them, but social media platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter can be used for business to business conversations as well. LinkedIn can be used for creating a perfect portfolio of the company, for interested parties to see; these interested parties might be looking for suppliers or vendors, and would turn to LinkedIn to find appropriate companies that they can deal with.
Marketing Strategy
Why cant brands carry out a digital marketing campaign, without a marketing strategy? A marketing strategy provides a brand with a direction, and it provides the brand with enough knowledge to make the marketing campaign a success. A marketer should develop a marketing strategy by studying the target audience of the brand, planning which platform will be used to market products to them, creating schedules for posting content on those platforms and coming up with interesting communication tactics.
A good marketing strategy would also include clearly, how much time and money has to be invested in a digital marketing campaign. When what has to be achieved and how it has to be achieved becomes clearer for the marketer, then it would less complicated to achieve it.
Sensitive Material
If it is a meme, a video or a gif, sensitive material should never be referenced in any post. Snapchat started a game for its users called Would You Rather, where users had to choose a favorable situation from two options. In one option, they included a celebritys domestic abuse scandal, and the users were furious over this move. Social media is a place where people go to find new, creative and relaxing things. They dont want to deal with such negative scenario, which is why when marketers arrange games, contests or quizzes for the users, they should make sure that there is no sensitive material.
Negative Feedback
What is the best way to deal with conflict? Dont say anything! This is what most brands believe they should do, when they read negative comments online, but this would be a bad idea! Users can read each others comments on social media posts. If a brand replies to a user who has posted a positive comment or a compliment, and ignore the customer who has posted a query or a negative comment, then every other customer can see the brands behavior.
When brands hire people to post positive comments on their social media accounts, and then reply only to them, then they are wasting their time and money. Brands should deal with negative criticism and turn such comments into constructive criticism. It is all part of providing customers with good after-sales support or online support, and brands shouldnt miss the chance of building brand image.
Customer Service
When dealing with customer complaints, there are four things that every brand must not do. Firstly, they should never blame the customer and tell him that the product must be damaged, because they did something with it. Such a statement is going to make a customer very angry. The second thing a brand must not do is refusing to compensate the customer. If the customer says that he didnt receive the product or received a damaged product, then after a quick investigation, he should be compensated.
The third and the most important thing to do, is to empathize with the customer. If the product didnt turn out to what they thought it would be, then the brand can offer them an apology, even if they cant do anything about it. The last thing that a brand should not do is insult the customer. Throughout the conversation with the customer, the brands representative should stay professional and must offer a solution to him, to show that the brand values its customers.
Providing the best customer service doesnt mean that the brand becomes too formal with the customer, because some customers dont like over friendly brand representatives. Calling customers dear or saying lets have some fun, are phrases that might offend them. Digital marketing channels should be used with absolute caution, in order to avoid any disasters.
