Moderation on Social Media

As social media managers, we know the benefits of engaging with consumers. This engagement, however, may carry a potential risk if it contains defamatory or libelous material, a copyright breach, obscene or intimidating content, or off-topic comments. Therefore, reviewing, approving, and overall moderating of user-generated content is important for brand protection and a better user experience.

Moderation doesn't only mean potentially "unpublishing" offensive content, but explicitly guiding and managing user expectations with community guidelines. It means understanding what the community is saying and knowing how to quickly cope with any situation. I'll be exploring how to moderate the following audience/customer comments if left on my organization's Facebook page. 

To a hotel: “I am disgusted about the state of your restaurant on 1467 Justin Kings Way. Empty tables weren’t cleared and full of remains of meals. It makes me wonder what the state of your kitchen is?!!! Gross.”

My reply: "Hi, [insert name here]. I'm terribly sorry to hear about your dining experience at 1467 Justin Kings Way. Please know that the issue has been brought to the attention of our manager and hospitality staff to ensure that this does not happen again. Should you dine again with us in the future, I would love the opportunity to make this up to you. Feel free to ask for Tiffani to discuss this further. We look forward to seeing you soon!"

To a mainstream news network: “Your reporting on the Middle East is biased in the extreme. You gave almost all your air time to spokespeople for the Israelis last night and there was no right to reply for the Palestinians. The conflict upsets me so much and your reporting of it, saddens me even more and makes me f**king furious.” (Let us assume the reporting was balanced, with equal time to both sides.)

My reply: "Hi, [insert name here]. Thank you for your feedback. As a news organization, our mission is to maintain objectivity and cover events impartially, so we apologize for seeming biased in our reporting. Your viewership is important to us, and as such we've forwarded your message to our team manager to avoid this in the future. If you have any further questions or concerns, feel free to reach us at socialmedia@newsnetwork.com."

In both instances, I kept a cool, calm and collected tone. Thanking these users for their feedback, addressing their issues and apologizing for their unsatisfactory experience is critical for the user to feel understood. The best way to handle these types of events is to take the conversation away from the site. Not only is this good customer service, but it shows other customers that you are actively and effectively correcting these issues. 

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The Home Depot Doesn't Monkey Around with its Reputation

We learned that a business’ reputation is essential to survival this week. The use of social media leaves businesses at the mercy of their consumers since anything posted can go viral.
The Home Depot had their reputation put at risk in November 2013, after an outside agency posted from their official Twitter account for ESPN show “College Game Day” (which Home Depot sponsors). The rogue tweet featured a photo of two African-American men and a man in a gorilla costume playing the drums and read, “Which drummer is not like the others?”

 Yikes.

The post was reported immediately, but not before screen shots of it circulated on social media, in addition to being picked up by NBC and CNBC. Virality at its finest.

Thankfully, Home Depot acted swiftly to remove the post and issue a public apology:

Understandably, they fired the person and severed ties with the Landor Associates branding firm that produced the picture. I was most impressed with Home Depot’s initiative to reply to individual tweets:

I found this especially commendable – they could have left it alone after issuing the public apology. This course of action helped followers and customers feel confident again. Home Depot obviously cares about their public image and understands the importance of maintaining goodwill with them.

Home Depot’s spokesman, Stephen Holmes, made a statement that the company is closely reviewing its social media procedures to determine “how this could have happened, and how to ensure it never happens again.” This mishap now serves as a case study of what NOT to do on social media. It’s unfortunate, but social media is really a trial by fire.

I think the way in which Home Depot handled the event went well and I would have reacted the same way. They were responsive and resolved the mistake. I'd work to establish a 1-to-1 communication with users who were offended by the tweet just as they had. I wouldn't hide from criticism and publicly address/apologize for the mishap. But this crisis is the perfect example why companies cannot afford to treat social media as an afterthought. People need to think before they tweet. Their reputation and profitability depends on it.

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Trying my hand at Reputation Management

This week we covered reputation management and the "online identity" of a brand. Reviews and social comments are a lasting and influential representation of a company, product, or service. Positive and negative feedback are a product of social media, but the way in which a company responds to the feedback (especially the criticism) can make the greatest impact on their business and financial bottom line. When brands acknowledge and remedy a situation, it doesn’t go unnoticed.

I'll be using this blog post to recommend responses to the following negative and positive comment examples from The Hilton Fort Lauderdale Marina and Hyatt Regency in Orlando, as if I were the Social Media Manager of the respective hotels. **Please note this is for class purposes only - any phone numbers or email addresses are fictional and strictly made for the purpose of this post!**

Negative review:

Greetings - Thank you very much for taking the time to review our property at The Hilton Fort Lauderdale Marina. Your input, and the feedback from all of our guests is vitally important to us and we always want guest expectations to be met upon arrival. We apologize sincerely for your experience not meeting those expectations during your stay for your 10-year high school reunion. 

I have informed management of your comments and our top priorities are now twofold - to have them addressed, as well as working to ensure that future travelers experience only remarkable hospitality, service and cleanliness. The issues you've encountered made us aware of the areas in which we can improve. 

Please know that we have since covered the parking lot gate box, as well as addressed the cleanliness issue of our pool and spoken with the employee in question. We want you to know that we truly enjoy sharing our passion for our destination with visitors and want you to make the most of your trip while enjoying our amenities. If you come back to our hotel, I would love the opportunity to speak with you directly, so please ask for me. We hope to see you again in the future and you can reach me directly at 954-463-5555 if I can be of any assistance. 

Positive review:

Thank you so much for visiting the Hyatt Regency in Orlando! It is always a pleasure to hear how our hotel goes above and beyond our guests' expectations for both business and leisure experiences. Please know that we have added your requests of a room on a high floor and views of the pool to your account for future visits. Requests are made possible based on our availability at the time of reserving with us. 

Have you registered for our Hyatt Gold Passport? You can do so here to take advantage of exclusive member benefits on your next business trip. You can be on your way to earning free nights at Hyatt hotels worldwide if you provide the reservation number from your most recent visit. Thank you for recommending our the Hyatt Regency to your friends and family. To show our appreciation of continued visits, we'd like to upgrade your next 50-minute Deep Tissue or Spa Refresher massage - you'll get an extra 30 minutes on us. We look forward to serving you again in the future!

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