Today I have a guest post from Jenna Winslow.
Jenna Winslow is a recent graduate from the University of Southern Indiana with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing. Jenna interned at Signarama Evansville during her senior year and is currently the Digital Marketing Intern at Ten Adams Marketing.
5 Lessons from Reese’s Christmas Tree
Social media is not only a fun place to interact with friends, family, and businesses; but is also quickly becoming one of the leading marketing platforms. Social media offers the ability to reach consumers and to connect with them unlike ever before. And in our rapidly evolving technological world, social media can either make or break a company.
Unhappy customers often go straight to social media to complain about a product or recent negative experience with a company. And if they are able to express their rage in less than 140 characters, they typically tag the company’s social media account directly in the post. All eyes then turn to see how, or if, the company responds.
There have been various cringe-worthy social media fails over the years: companies responding inappropriately to complaints – or just flat out ignoring them. There are plenty of lessons that can be learned from these mistakes; however, just as many, if not more lessons, can be learned from social media wins – when a company nails their response to public customer complaints, settling the issue.
Reese’s had a social media win of their own after releasing their annual Reese’s Christmas Tree last November. Social media savvy customers headed to Twitter to express their thoughts regarding Reese’s Christmas Trees – or more like the lack of resemblance to a tree.
Despite being put in a difficult situation for the entire world of social media to see, Reese’s was not fazed by the complaints and used them as an opportunity. Their response is what I would call the biggest social media win of 2015.
Reese’s created a Twitter campaign exclusively focused on the ugly, misshapen trees, making it official with the hashtag #AllTreesAreBeautiful.
Reese’s did not simply apologize to their customers, although they did apologize. Reese’s took their response one step further by admitting the Christmas Trees are not perfect, and fully embracing that fact. “It’s not what it looks like, it’s what it tastes like.”
Here are 5 lessons we can take away from Reese’s Christmas Tree win:
- Your customers are on social media, and you should be, too; build connections and reach customers you otherwise may not have been able to.
- Monitor what people are saying; turn complaints or bad reviews into an opportunity to gain feedback and learn from your customers.
- Never ignore a complaint on social media; not only does this reflect poorly on you, it could also be a missed opportunity.
- Engage with your customers on social media; whether a comment or post is about a great experience or a complaint, it requires a prompt response.
- Use social media to improve customer service; this can be as simple as responding to a complaint, and shows customers you value them.
Connecting with customers is easy thanks to social media, creating the opportunity to provide exceptional customer service. Your next response to customer feedback on social media doesn’t have to become an entire Twitter campaign – but it could!
Simply hover over the notification and two things will appear on the far right side, A small circle and a small gray x. The circle is labeled, that is to say that when you hover over it, a small black box appears and says ” Read.” Note, that if you have previously read it, the circle is not filled in and is labeled “Unread.” 
The X is labeled “Turn off.” Click that X.
