Question

Topic: Social Media

Ramifications Of Closing Corporate Facebook Page

Posted by Anonymous on 2/16/2011 at 10:01 PM ET 250 Points
Hi all,

My organization has a limited social media program. While we post pro-active content and aim to respond to every request, the site is becoming a complaint board. We are handling the complaints but the number of them is making our company look very bad.

My supervisors are very anxious and want to remove the facebook page entirely. I'm not sure that is the solution. But, I need some help with the potential consequences if we do take it down. Some questions I have:

1. What happens to the page when it is taken down?
2. What potential negative scenarios could happen with our current fans?
3. Would it be better to remove it since we are not equipped to have our company page serve as a customer service page.
4. Could we temporarily remove the page until our new social media strategic plan is in place?

Your advice is greatly appreciated



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RESPONSES

  • Posted on 2/16/2011 at 11:28 PM Accepted
    hi pielsm,

    first of all, without really knowing what the fuss is all about, its kind of hard to really respond to your points. sometimes complaints are good for the brand, however, the nature of these complaints must be investigated to really comment intelligently on your questions. but off the top of my head here goes:

    1 & 2. by 'taking the page down' do you mean, making it 'secret' or deleting it all together? either way, its a bad idea, that will send out wrong signals to your fans..WoM is a powerful tool, especially if you have a bunch of influencers who'll 'tweet' about it and 'share' this news till the cows come home....the situation may become more detrimental than it already is....

    3....honestly, there are ways to respond to irate consumers through social media tools like FB...people like to vent when they're in 'static' mode rather than face to face, its human nature to avoid confrontation directly, so the tendency is to give in to their frustrations online...so don't look at your 'response' as 'customer service'....rather respond positively...there are a couple of pages that I remember (Guiness & Carlsberg) that really handle all sorts of interaction quite well...i'm not sure what category you operate in...but you may want to take a look....

    4. why put up a page if you hadn't thought through your current strategy in the first place? you have to romance the public....don't come on too strong...adopt a meet & greet policy....humanize the brand...keep them guessing..your content should be interesting / spontaneous...play by their rules...indulge in their moods & whims....basically the aim of any social media strategy should be to co-create...the experience of your fans or any other page visitor must be one of discovery..

    a/way, as mentioned up front, unless I have had a chance to take a look for myself, its very difficult to come back with specific suggestions....

    all the best...
    s
  • Posted on 2/16/2011 at 11:59 PM Accepted
    If you haven't run across the ubiquitous Best Buy social media story all over the net, it's worth a read with regard to customer service models. The link below is the first result from a "social media best buy" google search, so it may not necessarily be the "best."

    https://wearesocial.net/blog/2009/05/buy-social-media-case-study/

    Good luck,
    Terry
  • Posted on 2/17/2011 at 12:42 AM Member
    Forgot to mention... once created, FB pages take a couple of steps to truly delete. FB assumes you may want to come back at some point with all your data just as you left it – in theory, right?. Be careful though, once you go through the steps to deactivate your page, and even though it will "always" be available when you're ready to return, the very act of logging in to the deactivated page makes it active again. So no peeking at a sleeping page. Just click on FB's "Help" link, it's all there.

    Another thought, during your customer service re-planning period, instead of shutting down completely, you could re-tool your page to include only your company-generated news and promotional content and then change settings to omit postings from customers. Maybe include a re-commitment notice or video from the President promising bigger, better, faster in the coming months (but only if you can deliver, obviously). Throw in a 'thank you' incentive (xx% discount, free shipping, no taxes, etc) for all those fans that did business with you and took the time to weigh in with their comments. Either way, I'd think this through all the way up to a re-launch date before you make any moves.

    Ultimately, this negative type of customer postings about your product/service should prompt a deeper, fundamental business discussion than just your social media model.

    Good luck,
    -Terry
  • Posted by michael on 2/17/2011 at 6:27 PM Accepted
    I've pulled down one before, but not for this reason. It just wasn't effective.

    There are plenty of "hate-company" groups so there is no real way to prevent postings. However, you CAN remind people of the purpose of the page and encourage decent discourse.

    Also, a standard "thank you for your posting and we will be happy to address your concerns directly" will eventually keep people from posting...but the response is very important because it may be pasted in to the site. Electronic ink has a very long half-life.

    Michael
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