Every kind of business or organization is encouraged to set up their social media accounts. And why wouldn’t they, when these accounts are free to set up, and they can expand the reach of your business? One may even say social media is the great equalizer, giving telecom, retail, finance, and educational institutions fair chances at getting customer attention. As with anything you associate with your business, however, they may have a positive or negative impact on your reputation.
Social Media, a Powerful Friend
They help you disseminate information about the business, and they allow you to engage with customers in a hassle-free way. Few restrictions apply on social media platforms, which means you can post almost anything, barring nudity and excessive profanity. Fortunately, most companies know how to use their profiles wisely even if they have to inject a little humor into their posts. They know how these can affect their relationship with their customers, so there are rules in place before posting.
Accidents Happen
The use of social media is not foolproof, however. There have been instances where it has led to a serious backlash against the company, especially when they have posted something tone-deaf or controversial in nature. In some cases, innocent mistakes lead to costly consequences, as a new intern may have mistaken the account for their personal profile where, of course, they could have freely posted as themselves. These mistakes may leave a lasting impression even after you have deleted the offending post. An archive of your website will still show what happened and when it happened.
History Teaches a Lesson
It’s the presence of that archive that may also help you avoid further problems, thankfully. There is no point in living in the past, but you may use what has transpired as seen through the records of web capture software, and pinpoint who exactly committed the mistake. This is essential if several people handle your accounts, as any of them may be the culprit and if they deleted the offending post immediately, you may only hear about it through other people’s recollection of the incident. It’s more objective to let the site speak for you, to allow you to work on changes that will prevent the same problem from happening in the future.
Learning Is Better than Remaining Ignorant
One small mistake may generate so much buzz around your business that you think you can’t recover. How you approach the situation plays a big role in whether you lose everyone’s trust completely or you take this as a lesson and do better. Even big companies have faced serious consequences for their actions, but they continue forward having learned something from their experience. Even if you have to archive a website after irreparable damage, you can still apply the lessons you learned when developing a new site. Social media may be so popular now and anyone can make mistakes, but how you take responsibility and get to the bottom of it will separate you from the rest.
It’s good for a company to be held accountable for its actions because it teaches them to do better. Adapt this kind of mindset but still be mindful of what you post.