Alysson — You’re right. Bad things will happen. No amount of planning can guarantee otherwise. But the companies who are prepared to handle problems effectively as they arise are the ones that consumers are likely going to remember positively.

Liz — Social media is absolutely an area that allows for more immediate customer feedback. Unfortunately we’re still at a time where it’s so new to many companies that they either neglect it or they over-do it (trying to be everywhere rather than targeting strategies and tools that would most effectively help them communicate with their own audience).

Yo — You know I agree with you on that one. We both can think of a certain company whose paid mouthpiece likes to incite mob response to try to silence anyone who criticizes them. It’s sad. More interesting is the fact that said company is apparently so interested in the image they portray, yet they allow it to continue. Eventually people do start to notice when you try to shut up your naysayers without ever addressing the issues, and it doesn’t do anything to help the already negative image you have. You don’t fix image issues by simply trying to change what people call you or unleashing the dogs.

Working with non profits in Ireland my sense is that BSM [before social media] the scale and scope and immediacy of service user [and other stakeholders] feedback was limited and time delayed. Now? SM … with it’s capacity for instant, broad and diverse feedback is really challenging for organisations and makes them feel they have lost control.

They may have lost the illusion of control in terms of user feedback [which they never had any real control over anyway... SM has just shown the naked emperor] … but they still have clear control and influence and authority over the core of their business.

SM just provides a very immediate way of gaining user feedback and engaging people in the vision and actions of the organisation.

Let’s face it, sometimes things aren’t going to go exactly as planned. How we respond to those less than optimal situations is really where the rubber meets the road when it comes to customer service. It’s easy to talk about how great we are when the seas are smooth. Statistics show that customer loyalty from those who have had a bad experience resolved swiftly and well is considerably higher than the customer loyalty of those who have never had an issue at all.

We must learn to use those opportunities to show the world what a company is truly made of…that not only are you committed to doing everything possible to make sure things don’t go wrong, but that when things do we will do everything within our power to make it right. The Internet gives us the opportunity to illustrate that commitment like never before. Not taking advantage of it is a huge mistake. The companies that recognize the opportunity will be the ones who come out of this economic downturn with an ace in the hole, while the rest – if not already bankrupt – will find themselves behind the proverbial 8 ball.