Bitching 2.0: The Power of Social Media

A recent experience has inspired me to put fingers to keyboard to provide a real world example of the power of social media.

If you are in a hurry, you don't like my writing style, or you have a short attention span I will provide the short version of the story first.  For any of you who are interested, I will go into more detail afterwards. 

Short version: I was offended by an employee at the library, rather than make a scene I just went home and bitched about it on Twitter.  The right person read my complaint, and 2 emails later the issue was dealt with and I felt much better.

Lesson: Many business owners fear social media because they feel that any negative comments they receive will damage their reputation.  However as this situation proves, paying attention and responding to negative comments immediately, not only stops them from spreading like cancer, but can turn the complainer into a very vocal supporter.

Now for the long version I will include a copy of the story from the email I sent.

I arrived at the library at about 1:30 to return some books we had
finished with, and pick out a couple more.  Normally I bring my middle
two children with me because they are the ones who really like coming
to pick out books, but last week their behavior at the library wasn't
very good, so they didn't get to come with me this week.  When I was
upstairs in the paperback series section looking for a book to read to
my oldest daughter (tough to pick something she will be interested in,
that she can follow, that won't drive me insane) I was interrupted by
a security guard.  He asked me if I was there with my son or daughter.
 I told him I got to leave them at home today, and that I was picking
out books for them.  He told me I wasn't allowed to be there.  I was
confused by this, so I said something brilliant like "Huh?" and he
told me that adults couldn't be upstairs because of pedophiles.  I
told him I wasn't hanging around, I was leaving once I found the book
I was looking for and he left.

Now as a father, obviously I understand wanting to keep kids safe from
strangers, so at first I tried to justify his actions by thinking
maybe I would like someone protecting my kids that way.  I made a few
jokes about how creepy I must have looked and tried to let it go.
However the more I thought about it the madder I got.  If there is
someone who seems a little off around my kids, I keep an eye on it, or
I'll go up and introduce myself and offer to "get my kids to stop
bugging them", but I won't run up and say "excuse me, you look like a
pedophile."  I understand keeping an eye on people who might be
suspicious, but assuming that all adults are pedophiles is more than a
little overboard.  I didn't see any children with him, maybe he
shouldn't be there either...

Anyways, thank you for taking my concern seriously.  I absolutely love
the facility, and the rest of the staff have always been incredible.

Within an hour of sending that email, it was passed to the appropriate people and I was satisfied with my apology.
I didn't complain because I wanted the guy to get a beating or anything,
I didn't even ask for my $1 overdue book fine to be taken care of, I simply wanted to be heard.
So there you have it business people, it doesn't have to cost you anything to deal with complaints and create raving fans
out of your detractors. Just pay attention to people, listen to their concerns, and apologize when it's needed.
Thank you to the wonderful folks both in the library and on the board for looking after me.

Feel free to share any thoughts or similar experiences in the comments section.

P.S. If you are still reading this you should stop and go get a book from the library!

Be Sociable, Share!

•