To Tweet or Not to Tweet: Social media is a great way to get customer feedback…just be wary for potential blowback

In my last blog post, I challenged you (and myself as well) to be more proactive in approaching customers for feedback. I recently found an excellent example on Twitter of an auto detailing supply company tying in the New Year with an offer to give feedback on things they can do better in the coming year.

Finding the right incentive

Notice they also offer a small incentive for providing feedback. However, it is important to note that the incentive is not a brand new car or a Neil Diamond Cruise Trip. It is just enough to pique the interest of followers, but probably not enough to cloud the feedback with nonsense in an effort for a chance at winning the car wax.

Social media caveat

When using social media channels for feedback, please understand the control you have with this medium. Remember that with the advent and popularity of social media channels you can receive a flood of real-time feedback from all over the globe.

But that feedback rolling in can be positive or negative. The negative feedback can now become very visible not only to your past customers but also prospective ones.

Now I say all of this not to dampen your enthusiasm for using emerging social media, but to have you consider what the outcome could be once you hit that update button on Twitter.

So consider questions like these… Did your company have a massive shipping issue this year? Was a bad batch of products sent out? Did you offend Ashton Kutcher in any way?

While the feedback you could gather is still very valuable, you might choose a more controllable channel to gather customer feedback if you have reason to believe some of that feedback may be negative.

Speaking of feedback, we want to hear from you. What is your favorite source of news and information in the advertising and marketing industry? Not a blog or magazine you just like…but something you really love enough to send a Valentine to on this upcoming (and well-marketed) holiday.

Email or share your feedback using social media and we’ll publish our favorites in a future post right here on the blog.

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