The Social Media Conversation featuring Starbucks Singapore on Facebook
Conversations. Being social is about being conversant. In all of its forms, be it business discussions, friendly discourses or family chats, it follows a certain, two-way norm: a question, an answer, then repeat. A question, an answer, then repeat. An almost cyclical activity, but really valuable in facilitating the exchange of information and sentiments between two or more parties. Conversations can build passion or bring us to tears. Which is pretty much the foundation of many great social communication strategies. So, let me ask this, why then do brands on social media ignore the conversation?
Writer’s note: I approached this as a balanced study and I will highlight both questionable and best practices. Sometimes I do wonder though, what if the designated ‘social media person’ in the company goes on vacation leave? I’ve noticed this happening before where conversations totally dropped off the radar. Hence my belief that social media is a shared responsibility of an enlightened open organisation. Anyone and everyone can speak and will speak. More on this in posts to come.
Starbucks Singapore’s Facebook page leaves many questions unanswered. Like literally.
Perhaps those are tough questions, but even the easy ones?
(I know these may be simple, almost ‘lazy questions’ for the Google-centric individual, but any interaction with a customer is an opportunity to make an impression.)
No response to this customer’s negative sentiment. Sales are most times made on sentiments and should be managed (especially for an ongoing X’mas promotion!)
But I like how this was handled.
The following are strange behaviours if the objective is to strike a conversation.
Post a question to the crowd. And despite 47 FB likes, a couple of questions and many comments later, Starbucks SG was quiet…cricket quiet.
Run a ‘pop quiz’ but remain absolutely quiet thereafter…
Strangely, Starbucks SG did pretty well here talking about Corporate Social Responsibility. Although informative, I personally feel it is PR speak mostly. Notice how the original question (paraphrased ‘If the investment in CSR translates to higher cost, has the cost been past on to customers?’) has gone unanswered?
I am really glad they responded here though, young students make future customers! :P
Advertorial, advertorial, advertorial! What about content posts? Thought pieces? Informative articles? Anything that will sustain and enrich conversations and minds?
Well, perhaps Facebook is not the platform for such conversations…..
But hey, it can be done and it should be done! Standing Sushi Bar proves so! A simple conversation topic such as ‘miso soup’ can excite your audience.
So all in all, should not brands in social media work at sustainable regular communications/conversations? Don’t we all feel slighted if questions go unanswered? Or when conversations get ignored? Keeping up the 2-way communication in social media can be tough on resource-poor organisations, but if you dabble in it, then it is ridiculously important.
But seriously, try not responding to your mom for a day or two and see what happens.
Happy to discuss this further, so leave your thoughts and comments!
The Digital Customer Advocate:
Social media-focused is noble, but customer-centricity is even better!
Fierce advocate of great customer service as a marketing and social media strategy, alternative browsers and all things Marketing 2.0. 
That was a good read, thanks for writing your observations down! I definitely think that utilizing any channel possible to get feedback from customers is great. Be it Facebook, Twitter, e-mail, or comment cards. The difficulty, as you point out, is once people send in comments and ask questions, they rightfully deserve a response back. Yet many companies (including myself – though since I’m a very small operation it might be a bit differet) open up these channels to hear from customers but then don’t allocate people to actually respond. It’s fundamental though – people want to know they were heard.
You mention what happens if the ’social media person’ for the company goes on vacation. In the case of Standing Sushi Bar, most of the folks working there are luddites (I don’t know why! I guess my love of computers needed balance) so if I go on vacation to somewhere there is no internet… well… everything might go dark. We’ll find out!
[Reply]
stand4sushi
5 Nov 09 at 2:02 pm
Hi Howard, what a wonderful response to my post, I certainly appreciate your point-of-views.
Indeed I can imagine the difficult situation churned up by being in social media: maintaining resource efficiency or being in constant touch with customers and aware of their sentiments and information needs.
But, you see, your small setup has shown it CAN be done, let alone an organisation with plenty of resources. The crucial difference is whether the brand/business cares enough or driven enough to actually participate in the conversations. Someone in a lofty position (in which case, this is you at Standing Sushi Bar) must believe that this will work and has tremendous business value (do you agree? :)
Well, I personally think social media is an extension of great customer service and an in-touch organisation (which SSB has in abundance judging from your Twitter stream) so I am sure you can have someone trained as a backup when you’re gone on holidays. Technology is an enabler and easy enough to master, so don’t worry :)
Thanks again for commenting and the opportunity to discourse!
[Reply]
groovygenie
5 Nov 09 at 10:07 pm
Hi GroovyGenie,
Great post you have there. The thing is, as is common with asian companies, not many can stomach negative feedback. They panic. They worry about the repercussions. And they don’t want to hear how they CAN react to negative feedback and get positive results out of it.
“If we don’t create an outlet that allows people to share negative feedback about us, then we won’t have this problem”
But you and I know that their competitors are out there, engaging and connecting with their consumers. And here they are, avoiding rather than addressing.
I guess it will take time and a lot of effort before this mindset will change. But it is encouraging to see other brands out there embracing social media. :)
Ju Ann (Oasis Interactive)
[Reply]
Oasis Interactive (Ju Ann)
6 Nov 09 at 10:33 am
Great detailed post! I’ve noticed the exact same thing from Starbucks because I’m a fan of their page too. They are active when it comes to promoting their stuff, not so active when it comes to replying to customers and their concerns and questions. Lucky for them they have enough brand equity so that maybe customers care less about it, but brands have to keep in mind not everyone can get away with this kind of behavior.
[Reply]
Daryl Tay
6 Nov 09 at 4:15 pm
Nice observation. I think it’s pretty much the same for must businesses trying to be on social media. They want to gather as many fans as they can and promote their wares, yet, they have no idea how to response to negative comments.
Good for me as I now found something more interesting to talk about in my talk…heehee
[Reply]
groovygenie Reply:
November 6th, 2009 at 6:46 pm
Hey Daryl, I did noticed you while researching on their FB page (there’s another Daryl Tay too :)
Great point you’ve got that got me thinking. Can brand equity get so over-sized and overwhelming that businesses can afford to ignore one or two griping customers? Seems like it ya! But here’s some thought: can social media be the game leveller? I think yes. With constant and targeted public airing of customers’ voices, amplified by social media channels, I think there’s a great chance that all biggie brands will have to fall in line and not take any of us customers for granted. I believe in that :)
[Reply]
groovygenie Reply:
November 6th, 2009 at 6:18 pm
Hi Ju An, thanks for the comments and your thoughts.
I really agree with you here. I personally too don’t understand the fear of dealing with negativity, why run away from it when a customer GIVES a perfect opportunity to react by highlighting a shortcoming or dissatisfaction? Business leaders should know better! :)
Indeed, more brands are coming on social media these days (check out my SG biz list on Twitter http://twitter.com/#/list/groovygenie/sg-businesses-i-follow) but, you know something, I am very optimistic that social media will be the push for brands to improve their services and products to the next level, because everything is so out there, so transparent!
[Reply]
Roderick
10 Nov 09 at 1:06 pm
Hey Rod, thanks for dropping by. I certainly agree with businesses trying to build their community (or in some cases, pipeline building) through social media, but as you have mentioned, they are ill-prepared or do not have a strategy in place to counter or address negativity. Which is sad really, 1 step ahead and 2 steps back :)
[Reply]
groovygenie
10 Nov 09 at 11:25 pm
I enjoyed your article, it was very informative and it furthers my understanding of the utilization of social media provoking more inner thoughts.
Will be bookmarking it to keep it for future reference.
Thank you and i look forward to more =)
[Reply]
Tiffany
11 Nov 09 at 1:29 pm
Hello Tiffany, your very much welcomed and thank you for kind words.
I am glad you enjoyed my perspective of social media and you are always welcomed to share your own thoughts with me here and on Twitter. Social media is really new so there are really countless possibilities of discussions that will be enjoyable for greater learning :)
[Reply]
groovygenie
12 Nov 09 at 8:12 am
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The Social Media Conversation featuring Starbucks Singapore on Facebook « a groovyweb by isman tanuri
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