Week 2 Part A: Communication Between Business & Consumer

    Communication with businesses is so much easier now with social media. Before social media your main options were to try to talk to the manager/owner or to try calling the corporate number. With social media all it takes is a post about your experience and a well placed "tag" of the particular businesses name, in order to be noticed. No waiting on hold or arguing with a manager. You can even go on the businesses social media page and post your experience there, which may even get it noticed faster. With social media you don't have to wait as long for a response nor are you at the mercy of the managers "final" decision, unless of course you are dealing with the owner of the business, in which case posting your experience would bring awareness to the situation and show others how you were treated.

    For my research, I turned to Yelp. I chose 4 different businesses to investigate. The reviews I read in my research, were mostly positive. In some cases there was a response and in others there wasn't. One of the companies I researched did have some negative reviews and these were largely ignored which was rather disappointing. I think it would have been nice if the manager had responded to the negative reviews, so that other customers could see that they care and had tried to resolve the issues. In terms of the good reviews it also would have been nice to see management reaching out to those people and thanking them and welcoming them back to their store.

    I don't always leave reviews but when I do, I try to remember to be fair. I usually try to wait until I'm not so angry to leave my review but I am only human and sometimes I do write in anger. I also try to remember to leave positive reviews, especially when I receive really good service, though sometimes I end up seeking out the manager in the store in order to share my positive feedback. I think sometimes I forget about the power of social media and the importance of sharing my good experiences as well as the more negative experiences. One thing I'd like to mention is that when posting a positive review, (for ex: in the case of the nail salon I went to) I will add a photo of the service I received so that others can see the quality and perhaps give the company their business.

    If it was my own business on social media being reviewed, I would definitely try to be as responsive as possible. What I mean by this is that I would try to respond to the negative reviews in a professional manner. Sometimes I see owners being rude in their replies, and it doesn't look good. I think that being respectful while answering the customer is important. It shows that you can be levelheaded and helpful in spite of negative backlash. In terms of positive reviews I would also try to respond to these, in order to thank the customer for choosing my business and to validate their experience. I do realize that it takes a lot of work keeping up with social media and especially responding, so its hard to say how successful I would be.