Social media can build a business, or tear it down: Here’s how to not get burned

DIGITAL STRATEGY: Benrus CEO Giovanni Feroce discusses the company's social media strategy with employees Mikaela A. Condon, left, and Julie A. Kooloian. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO
DIGITAL STRATEGY: Benrus CEO Giovanni Feroce discusses the company's social media strategy with employees Mikaela A. Condon, left, and Julie A. Kooloian. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

The restaurant review was exuberant in its praise. Joie S. had just visited The Malted Barley, a new restaurant in Providence that features a rich variety of craft beers and hand-rolled, gourmet pretzels.

“I AM SO EXCITED THIS PLACE IS FINALLY OPEN,” she started in all-capital letters, the Internet equivalent of shouting. Her five-star review, posted on Yelp.com, immediately was shared with her followers.

She praised the pretzels, “hot and delicious,” the service – she already felt like people there knew her name. “If you haven’t been there yet, they have been open for like three days, what are you waiting for?” she wrote.

This is how it starts, the organic feedback on social media, review websites and online blogs that marketing specialists say can make or break a business, particularly one in a competitive environment. The feedback, positive or negative, is often shared across social media platforms, amplifying the effect.

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When the echo chamber is enthusiastic, or even just positive, businesses will see traffic spike. But the opposite can happen just as easily. Reviews, complaints or photos that pan a company can quickly spread online, through channels that often do not require critics to be identified.

In one extreme example, Ava Anderson Non Toxic, a Warren-based company that sold 17 products, including cosmetics, baby care and home-cleaning items, was closed by its founders in February, after they complained, in a company website post, of unrelenting online and personal criticism. The company’s products are now being sold under a different brand, Pure Haven Essentials.

Social media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter, can amplify criticism that appears on websites and blogs. The photo of the napping employee, the college professor trashed for being boring, the company that has lousy benefits – all become public fodder.

So what’s a business owner to do, when supporters and critics alike can immediately have their say and share it at lightning speed? Like it or loath it, ignoring social media is not an option, says Chris Ciunci, founder and managing partner of TribalVision, a Warwick-based digital marketing and advertising agency.

He says some company executives have shied away from even the most basic of social media applications, such as filling out a LinkedIn profile for their company and chief employees. It’s a mistake, he said, even if their fear is that competitors may poach the top talent. In terms of recruitment, people interested in working for companies, or in doing business with them, want to see a vibrant, active social media presence.

“They’re going to want to look under the hood,” Ciunci said. “You need a level of credibility.” And for marketing power, social media offers a no-cost to low-cost option to reach the audience most important to a business.

BROAD REACH

LinkedIn, for example, allows companies to post content, including short articles and videos, of interest to people who follow their business or brand. It’s a free method to post targeted materials, aimed at the audience most likely to engage with it, according to Ciunci.

With social media, the communication is immediate, and the feedback instantaneous. People post complaints, or praise, from their seats in an establishment.

Although not a social media site, Glassdoor.com is a website that allows employees to review their workplace, or former bosses, anonymously. People can describe their salaries, the quality of the benefits and what they think of the CEO.

The University of Rhode Island, for example, has 83 reviews, and 192 salaries defined on the site, by position. The overview listed the most-often-mentioned pros: “Beautiful campus, especially the bay campus in Narragansett.” The cons: “Grad students, especially international students, are absolutely abused in my view.”

A former librarian, who didn’t recommend it for employment, included in the review: “Boring. Not challenging. Co-workers are elderly.”

Yelp, a platform that allows regular people to instantly critique businesses and services, has become tremendously influential, particularly for restaurants.

In mass, they determine an average star-score that can drive people to, or from, businesses. The service has what it calls “elite” reviewers, including several operating in Providence. Some of them have posted more than 1,000 reviews.

Within two weeks of its March 10 opening, The Malted Barley had 28 online reviews on the platform.

One patron, frustrated at what he described as a 90-minute wait for pretzels on a Friday night, posted a two-star review. “The tomato w/pesto sauce was missing the pesto. Grilled cheese on pretzel bun tasted fantastic, but after that wait I think almost anything would.”

Even in the rush of a new restaurant opening, The Malted Barley owner, Ron Koller, took note of the online reviews. He tries to focus on the trends, and what people are saying repeatedly, not the best or the worst reviews. But he knew a few people had cast two stars his way. The menu points out that at peak times, the wait for the handmade pretzels can exceed 30 minutes, he noted. They’re all made by hand, to order.

In the old days, someone who waited too long for their food might have complained to the manager while still at the restaurant. Now, they tend to post and not make themselves visible. He’d rather they complain directly. “As a manager, if a table brings it to your attention, you’ll fix it immediately,” he said.

Shaking off bad reviews is easier said than done for many small businesses. In most cases, their social media sites are maintained by a working manager, not a tech-savvy specialist or a dedicated employee.

That makes it hard for many of them to manage.

‘KEYBOARD BRAVE’

Social media criticism that focused on the products of Ava Anderson Non Toxic included content on several blogs and comment streams. It was often posted by authors who claim to be well-versed in natural products, who said various Anderson products were misrepresented as natural or organic.

The Anderson family, of Barrington, declined to be interviewed for this story. The company was founded seven years ago by then 15-year-old Ava Anderson. It grew to last year include 90 employees and nearly 15,000 sales consultants across the country.

In a January message on its website announcing its closure, the family referred to in-person and online disparagement of both the company and its founder.

“Sadly, there are many who are ‘keyboard brave’ who have made this experience intolerant for our daughter and our family. It has accelerated over time and we see no end in sight,” read the message.

In March the company’s products were rebranded under the name Pure Haven Essentials, in Warren. The founder’s mother, Kimberley S. Anderson, is a manager of the new business, which is looking for a buyer. New company officers did not immediately respond to requests for comment on what they may have learned or are doing differently in managing the business’ social media profile.

On several natural-product blogs, criticism of any product inevitably leads to a back-and-forth among customers with different views.

A sample on the eco-friendly Baby blog, where the Ava Anderson line was criticized last June as not being organic: said Katie (no last name), in defense of the company, “I really would like to believe that I can trust these statements you have made but it’s just so hard to when you are pushing your own line of organic products in the same post. It seems as though now that the company is getting bigger, people are trying to knock it down.” The blogger responded: “Have you seen those certificates from their suppliers with your own eyes? I haven’t. … I and MANY believe they could NEVER BECOME certified because they are not disclosing all ingredients on the labels. PLEASE look at the dish soap and tell me how it makes the amazing bubbles it does?”

Sue Apito, a Realtor in Connecticut who posted criticism of the Ava Anderson products on her blog, “Exposing Greenwashers,” recently removed the site altogether. She’s posting now on noncontroversial topics she wants to write about, she told Providence Business News. She said she was often accused of having an agenda, such as selling for a competing company, whenever she criticized Ava Anderson products.

“You definitely put yourself out there to be criticized and attacked,” Apito said. “People accuse you of motivations that are self-serving.”

Whether or not the Ava Anderson Non Toxic critics had valid complaints about the product, such criticism that seemingly takes on a life of its own online is the fear of many managers and executives.

Giovanni Feroce, CEO of Benrus, a retailer that sells military-inspired clothing and accessories, said he sees business owners fall into the trap of overreacting.

“If it’s negative in nature, you have to make a decision as to its impact,” he said. “Are you reading too much into negative comments? I live by a rule. I don’t run business by exception. Just because there might be three, four, five, negative comments, there could be 98 positive ones.”

His Providence-based business employs a full-time social media coordinator, who monitors and posts on social media sites. Most small businesses are trying to handle it themselves, along with everything else. “It’s very difficult for a lot of small-business owners,” Feroce said. “They really do not get it. They will make very rash decisions. I’ve seen it over the years. They want to immediately react.”

But not all negative feedback is a bad thing.

“Sometimes feedback, although negative, can be very positive for your company because you need to correct something, be it a product or a service or anything else being pointed out,” Feroce said. “It gives you an opportunity to go and review what is being criticized.”

BE PROFESSIONAL

Responding immediately, or with anger, to criticism is something social media specialists say is a mistake.

The best practice is to respond, professionally and politely, then move the conversation off-line, according to Dale J. Venturini, president and CEO of the Rhode Island Hospitality Association.

Moving it to an email, or to a phone conversation, allows the business to identify what the customer wants to redress with the complaint, and try to resolve it.

“Offer to take the conversation off-line so they can offer some kind of resolution,” she said. “That’s very important because you don’t want a tête-à-tête, back and forth in a public forum.”

The organization, which includes 675 companies, including hotels, restaurants and affiliated businesses, recently held a morning workshop on “serving up social media.” Sixty people came, a big turnout for a Monday morning.

Businesses are aware that they can try to use social media to engage with their customers, but they also need to manage it, she said. A poor review won’t necessarily harm a business, but it needs to be addressed.

Recently, Venturini saw a bad review of a hotel, posted by a conference speaker. She called the manager, who contacted the guest privately. “He ended up rewriting the review,” Venturini said. “He said he felt listened to. He thanked the hotel manager and he said, ‘I take back what I said. A mistake was made, and it’s been fixed.’ ”

On the plus side, social media platforms have opened a range of online marketing to businesses at little to no cost.

It is a fast way to reach people who are interested in products or services, and get a message to them.

Facebook, for example, allows businesses to post hyperlinks.

“You can put specials, you can put events, you can put a lot of wonderful things [on social media],” Venturini said. “It just has to be managed. It’s a push-pull. You can’t live without it, right? You have to be a part of it. You have to manage it.”

FINDING WHAT WORKS

Part of managing social media presences is understanding what platform works best. Instagram, which is photo- and video-focused, is growing in popularity because so many people are drawn to visual images, said Kara DiCamillo, social media and public relations director for 6 Square Design and Communications, a Newport company.

A company, through just photos, can reach its audience. “For instance, a restaurant might be posting a special for that evening. That taps into an audience that is really focused on food, loves the restaurant already and thinks, ‘You know what, I’m going to go there for dinner tonight.’ More and more, an audience wants to connect with a brand. Social media outlets allow you to tap into that,” she said.

Companies that have effectively used social media to build their brand and engage customers or followers include Glee Gum, a small business in Providence that makes aspartame-free chewing gum; Amica insurance and Sailors for the Sea, a conservation organization, she said.

The social media outlets allow effective users to form communities. “It allows for an audience to be able to connect and share values,” DiCamillo said.

In terms of importance, social media is nearly as important to business as traditional marketing efforts, such as direct mail or media advertising.

Engaging with customers who comment on a business is a good practice, particularly if the remarks are critical. “Always respond,” DiCamillo said.

“It makes the person on the other end feel as though someone is actually paying attention. So there is integrity,” she said.

The response of the owner should be, “I am listening. I want to make my brand better by listening to what you have to say,” she said.

But what happens when the social media commentary is unrelentingly negative? This is when social media specialists and experienced businesspeople say continuing to engage can be a mistake.

Venturini said once the business has made a sincere effort to redress whatever the issue is, it can be counter-productive to continue to engage with the person. The upshot of the social media workshop for business owners was, “don’t get too upset. Manage them. Create a communication plan. Use social media, but not it alone.”

Feroce, the former CEO of Alex and Ani LLC, in 2014 one of the fastest-growing private companies in the U.S., is now building a reputation for Benrus.

In business, owners will build relationships over the years. “Statistically, you’re going to have had litigation. You will have had employees who didn’t work out, customers who had a bad experience. And sometimes, as in politics, some of these people will harbor bad feelings for years,” he said.

That can play out on social media.

Benrus, a dormant brand for 40 years, is being built carefully, he said. The watch designs and manufacturing were not to his specifications initially, and that will take time. By next fall, he’ll compete directly with watch companies because by then, the first batch of watches made to his specifications will be rolled out.

In the meantime, he emphasized lifestyle marketing choices, such as T-shirts, hats and backpacks.

On its website, Benrus showcases customer-submitted photos that are posted to Instagram. All use the hashtag and logo associated with the brand #Itsabettertime. The photos include shots of Benrus watches in Switzerland, on the beach, in front of an Easter dinner table.

Social media coordinators such as the one Benrus employs can review images that are sent to their company by customers, happy with a product, and wanting to share. A customer comment on a product could then reappear with that item on Amazon.com, if the company pays for that option. “It’s employing digital strategy,” Feroce said.

The instant feedback provides other potential customers with an authentic message.

“At the same time, someone may have a bad experience. Statistically, it’s going to happen,” Feroce said.

Companies can pay a service that will track all mentions of the brand name. For the companies that do hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue, their digital strategy is so sophisticated, that it is really “an engine,” Feroce said. “It’s very important. You need to be on top of that. If there is a breakdown, the whole thing can go down.”

The best way to navigate the social media landscape, as with the business environment, is with a steady hand and statistics, he says.

“I’m in a startup right now,” he said. “If I were to listen to the crowd noise, [I] wouldn’t come out of the house.” •

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