Bryce Blakely's Blog

Global BC published an article today that claimed 30% of social media users within the province use social media as a primary means to convey their displeasure with brands they’ve had contact with. In a province with a population of 4.4 million that’s about 1.32 million people, certainly nothing to scoff at. Perhaps a more revealing statistic is that only one in four of these people who complained about a brand on social media received a satisfactory response. Number crunching again that’s 990,000 people who were more or less ignored. In an age where brand interactions with consumers are becoming increasingly important, if not integral to successful business, this is a major issue.

The article goes on to consider the macro impact of these vocally unsatisfied consumers. 81% complain on Facebook where, statistically, each user from BC has an average of 217 friends. That’s the potential for 217 negative impressions for that brand from one user, I don’t need to multiply that by 990,000 for in to be apparent that these negative sentiments have a dramatic ripple effect. It’s time for big brands to take charge and do something about their consumer’s problems. Even if they cannot be rectified immediately or even ever there is still value in defusing the situation through communication. Some of the largest targets of these criticisms have been telecommunications companies and transit companies coming in for a combined 56% of total complaints lodged on social media. These companies have large revenue margins, in the case of telecommunications, nationwide presence. Being unable to provide follow-up for unsatisfied customers is almost completely for lack of trying for firms of this size.

Note: The telecommunications industry in Canada is an oligopoly and as such may just ignore complaints because, for all intents and purposes, they’re the only game in town.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 19th, 2013 at 5:51 pm and is filed under Uncategorized.