Posts made in November, 2011

Never say ‘sorry’ on social media?

Posted by Mark on Nov 2, 2011 in Blog-Off, Social Media | 2 comments

Ever been rejected by your own child? Those moments when you go into their room and they scream, “I don’t want you, I want Mummy!” Or at every meal time, “I want Mummy to sit next to me, not you Daddy.”
I had nearly four years of that. My daughter Kate constantly pushing me away but I had no idea why. Then one day this summer I sat her down and asked her why she always seemed to be cross with me.
“It’s because you never took me to little school last year.”
It was a surprising answer. The reality was, I didn’t expect to get an answer at all. Kate was only four after all. I had taken Kate to her pre-school on a number of occasions the previous year but my wife had done it most of the time as I was working.
“I’m sorry Kate. How about I take you to school nearly every day next year now I’m working from home?”

Kate when she was grumpy

She accepted that answer and the conversation was over. But from that moment on, everything changed. She suddenly became a Daddy’s girl (she’s balanced out her affection more over the last few months) and stopped being angry with me.
The power of the word ‘sorry’ when saying it to your children is remarkable. Every time I’ve said it, my children have responded positively. So why do we find it so difficult to say?
In social media marketing, ‘sorry’ carries a similar amount of power. So many businesses reject the idea of having a social media presence because they are frightened of what others will say about them on Facebook or Twitter. But they are forgetting the power of the word ‘sorry’.
I love the Marks and Spencer’s Facebook page. It’s not afraid to let customers complain on it. When they do, the store is quick to say sorry and, like my promise to Kate, offers to sort things out.

Kate now she's happy

I expect businesses to make mistakes – they can’t be perfect all the time – and when they apologise I have much more respect for them. I read Marks and Spencer’s Facebook page and I like them more because they react to complaints well.
I did a presentation to an engineering firm recently about the benefits of social media. Nobody in the room was on Twitter – I did a search on their company name and found nine mentions in the last few days. Surely it’s better to be on social media and know you’re being talked about than be criticised behind your back?
Good customer service is saying ‘sorry’ at the right time and making amends. As with my daughter Kate, saying ‘sorry’ opened the doors to a deeper relationship. Something that could do the same with your customers via social media.
Mark Saxby
Award-winning journalist Mark Saxby provides a blog-writing service. For more details, click here.

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