Chapter 7
Listening to Your Community
In This Chapter
- Finding out what your community wants
- Responding to negativity
- Controlling damage
Your community is your most important asset, as it's made up of customers or people who use your product or service on a regular basis. The opportunities here go far beyond selling because now you can receive in-depth information about their habits, including why they like your brand, where you need a little work, and where you're falling short.
Customer feedback takes on many different forms. It's not all gathered in letters to the customer service department or calls to your 800 hotline. People are talking about your brand online; sometimes they reach out to you directly, and sometimes it's in the form of a rant on a blog post or a tweet sharing how happy they are with a user experience.
Gathering and receiving feedback is one of your top tasks. You're expected to respond to each individual complaint or compliment (even if it's not your department) — and even fight for your community if you feel they're being slighted — while still remembering your number one loyalty is to your brand.
Gauging the Wants and Needs of Your Community
You may assume that your community's members are there to find out more about the product or service, interact with others, or receive discounts, but how can you know for sure?
You can discover what your community wants by being vigilant.
It's not enough to set up a community and have a nice chit-chat every day. Your ...
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