The Good, The Bad And The Ugly: Valuable PR Lessons Ecommerce Brands Can Learn From Community Management

Community management might feel like just another daily task to tick off as part of your social strategy. Replying to queries, handling complaints, responding to tweets—it can often feel like a box to check simply in order to shift it off your to-do list for that day.

But for ecommerce brands, it can impart some vital lessons.

With shoppers turning to social as their first point of contact with a brand, social media is the coalface of brand-customer relationships. Read on for a few valuable lessons your ecommerce brand can learn from community management—the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The Good: Generating & Leveraging Positive Interactions

We’ll begin with the positive side of community management. Below, we’ll discuss some of the most important things to remember when managing your brand’s loyal herd of social media followers. 

Community management turns brands into publishers

Before community management became a thing, PR was largely about press liaisons; connecting with journos to manage public image through editorials, news spots, soft stories, and so on.

While community management won’t replace this traditional form of PR, it does offer a new avenue to pursue. Where traditional PR adopted a blanket approach, with a news story being read by the many, social media and community management is PR for the few. From direct conversations with customers on Twitter to branded content cascaded via YouTube, social media closes the gap between brand and consumer, and community management plays a vital role in that.

Don’t treat community management as a mere extension of your brand’s customer service offering. Yes, much of your time may be spent on reactive community management; solving simple queries, or responding to feedback, but this is only part of the story — it’s vital to treat community management as part of your brand’s PR efforts too. 

Social media interactions are your brand speaking directly to individuals and engaging in conversations with them. Sure, editorial placements, HARO comments, and press conferences still have their place, but communicating directly with your audience in a public, global forum? That’s where the real value of community management comes into play. And better yet, you’ve got full editorial oversight. 

A word on newsjacking…

Let’s say your brand recently switched to 100% recyclable packaging. Pitching that as a news story to a journo could be tricky — they receive hundreds of pitches a day — and while writing a branded post and sending it straight to your customers via social is certainly viable, there are more effective ways of making a splash on platforms like Facebook and Instagram. 

Newsworthiness matters. Hooks matter. Your message is more likely to cause a spark in the social media tinderbox if it’s doused in a little flavour-of-the-day fuel. 

If you’re seeking fresh interest in your business but can’t get published in the news, publically commenting on it is the next best option. The savviest brands are masters of presenting trending stories in a way that builds their connection with the audience and:

• Generates promotion
• Solidifies their identity
• Invites discussion and sparks conversation

The practice of riffing off current events for promotional purposes; newsjacking is a tried-and-tested tactic used by big and small companies alike. 

Credit: SEMrush

If your brand is so inclined, Newsjacking is an ideal conduit for expressing its playful, sassier side, as demonstrated above, but you don’t have to fire shots at your competitors to cause a stir. Oreo’s tweet during the Area 51 debacle of 2019 is a prime example of how even the most unrelated news stories can be used to your advantage:

Credit: X

 

Remember: social media is the most potent platform for humanising your brand, so use it to your advantage. 

 

PR is a two-way street, so share the love

We won’t lie, community management is, by and large, mostly about managing angry and upset customers. But for every Grumpy Goose and Critical Karen out there, there are ten more happy customers who just want to share their love for your brand—so share it right back!

 

Liking a comment, retweeting a tweet, or replying to a post with a quick line or two takes a couple of minutes but has a lasting effect on your customer relationships. Beyond this, it’s also a good PR exercise—it shows your followers you have a human side, and that your social account is about more than pushing customer complaints through the usual process.

 

Even a simple ‘favourite’ of a tweet is enough to give your followers a dopamine hit and leave them with that warm, fuzzy feeling inside. It says to them that the brand they loved took the time to stop and engage with something they shared.

 

Yes, community management is a crucial customer service touchpoint, and it’s all but essential for handling complaints, but don’t let the complainers overshadow the happy campers celebrating your brand and its products.

 

Encourage interaction and nurture your fanbase

Picture the scene: You’ve arrived at a house party a little earlier than you originally intended, and as you’re ushered into the living room you realise there are only two other guests here. Both are strangers to you.

Oh dear.

You weigh up your options. Stood to your left, a man dressed all in black, his face utterly expressionless as you flash him a friendly glance. He looks right through you.

At the opposite end of the room is a smartly dressed man — smile beaming, he seems confident, warm, and welcoming. As your eyes flick in his direction he greets you and offers you a drink.

Which person do you think is more likely to leave the party with a bunch of new friends?

When managing your brand’s social media presence, it’s important to create an environment where interaction with your followers is encouraged. It’s about fostering a community atmosphere.

This means:

• Responding promptly to comments and DMs — people don’t like being left on read!
• Being proactive. Ask your customers questions related to your niche. Make conversation in the comments section and create polls to spark debate — the more personable and relatable, the better (see pic below).
• Encourage your customers to create user-generated content (UGC). One of the simplest ways to do this is via competitions, EG: “Send a picture of your freshly trimmed lawn for a chance to win £100 in lawncare vouchers”. 
• Use live videos for Q&A sessions, product launches, or behind-the-scenes content. These ‘live sessions’ are a great way to interact with your customers informally, and go a long way towards humanising your brand.

Credit: Statusbrew

The more engagement you have with your customers, the more connected they’ll feel with your brand. Connected customers are more likely to remain loyal and, perhaps even more importantly, advocate for it. 

The Bad: Handling Negative Feedback

And now, the bad.

Negative interactions are a sad inevitability on social media, so be ready for them. Not sure how? That’s what we’re here for.

Complaints about your product

First, let’s address the most common type of negative interaction: complaints about products. These can range from minor issues like delayed deliveries to major problems like faulty merchandise. Every complaint has the potential to impact your brand’s reputation if not handled correctly.

How to handle:

Respond quickly: Time is critical. Aim to reply within a few hours to show you value customer feedback.

Offer solutions: Provide tangible solutions such as refunds, replacements, or discounts on future purchases. In the vast majority of cases, the offer of a free replacement will be enough to defuse the situation entirely.

Follow-up: Ensure the issue is resolved to the customer’s satisfaction and check back to see if they need further assistance. It’s also worth logging every complaint you receive, this way you can track any problematic products and potentially look into the issue further. 

Questions about where you stand on divisive issues and sensitive topics

Another type of negative interaction involves questions or criticisms about your brand’s stance on political issues. Tread very carefully here — these interactions require extreme caution.

How to handle:

Be transparent: Clearly communicate your brand’s values and policies. Consistency is key.

Stay respectful: Respond respectfully, even if the feedback is harsh. Avoid engaging in arguments and approach the interaction from a point of empathy, not antagonism.

Be prepared: Create a document outlining stock responses for any topics that your followers may bring up. For example, if you’re managing a confectionary store, it’s a good idea to prepare a statement regarding modern slavery in the cacao trade. 

Take your time: If you’re unsure how to respond, don’t rush. It’s better to delay and send the right response than to hastily send the wrong one.

Negative reviews

Credit: Graze Facebook

Dealing with negative reviews is one thing, but dealing with them in front of an audience is another thing entirely. With many customers now opting to air their grievances with brands in the comments sections, this is something you’ve got to be prepared for!

How to handle:

Thank the reviewer: Acknowledge the feedback and thank the reviewer for their honesty. Be sincere and approach the interaction as an opportunity to improve. Crucially, don’t take it personally!

Address specific issues: Respond to the specific concerns raised in the review. Show that you are taking steps to rectify the problem.

Encourage a second chance: Invite the reviewer to give your product or service another try with an incentive like a discount.

Social Media Rants

For some customers, firing a few shots off in the comments section just isn’t enough. Social media rants can go viral quickly, spreading negative perceptions about your brand far and wide, so it’s important to douse the flames as fast as possible. 

How to Handle:

Stay calm and professional: Never respond in anger or defensiveness.

Take It offline: Offer to resolve the issue privately through direct messages or phone calls.

Public resolution: If the issue is resolved positively, ask if the customer would consider updating their post or sharing their positive outcome.

The Ugly: Pitfalls to Avoid in Community Management

And finally, we arrive at the ugly. Below, we’ll detail a few of the mistakes you’ll want to avoid when managing your social media community. 

Automation over authenticity

Is there anything quite as insincere as someone trying their hardest to sound sincere?

Whether it’s from the disgraced government minister caught fiddling their expenses or the CEO of some giant tech company busted for razing down a protected rainforest, there’s nothing more insincere than an apology that tries to sound sincere.

Your customers aren’t stupid, they can detect a calculated, media-trained apology from a mile off. Robotic language, evasive turns of phrase, empty platitudes—these kinds of things don’t land with savvy consumers. What really resonates with customers is genuine, human personality, expressed through language, manner, and behaviour.

The nature of community management attests to this.The best community managers are those who engage with customers in a relatable, human way. That means ditching the boilerplate “we are sorry to hear you’ve had a negative experience…” responses and opting for something a little more personable. Lean on accepted colloquialisms or turns-of-phrase (“we dropped the ball”) to give your community management a believable, human element.

This doesn’t just apply to your customer complaint handling either. Respond to customer queries with the same personable style, using everyday language, emojis, and gifs to breathe a little life into your social management. If you must lean on boilerplate copy, build humanity into it or encourage your community managers to tweak them a little each time they’re used.

Promotional overload

Everyone understands that social media is a powerful marketing tool. However, there’s a fine line between effective promotion and overwhelming your audience with constant sales pitches. If your community feels like they’re being bombarded with promotional content, they’ll tune out — or worse, unfollow.

It’s essential to strike a balance. Share a mix of content that provides value to your audience, such as tips, behind-the-scenes looks, user-generated content, and, yes, promotions. Think of your social media presence like a conversation at a party: no one wants to talk to the person who only talks about themselves.

Neglecting crisis management

No one likes dealing with crises, but they’re part and parcel of managing an online community. When they do happen, how you deal with them can make or break your brand’s reputation. The worst thing you can do is ignore a brewing disaster, hoping it’ll all blow over. Spoiler alert: it won’t.

Unmanaged, a crises can snowball into a full-blown catastrophe. The key is to have a crisis management plan in place before disaster strikes. This plan should outline the steps to take when a crisis hits, including who should be involved, how to communicate with your audience, and the channels to use for updates.

Transparency matters, too. By taking a proactive response to whatever crisis you’re facing, you’re projecting an image of honesty. Being forthright in the face of a PR calamity might not defuse the crisis entirely, but owning up to your mistakes and explaining the steps you’re taking to improve things will help. Whatever you do, don’t try to downplay the situation — or worse still, evade the issue altogether.

Remember: prevention is better than cure. It’s impossible to predict what crises might come your way, but there are precautions you can take to minimise your chances of being involved in one. 

• Create strict guidelines on what can and can’t be posted on your brand’s social channels. From the tone of voice and kind of language that’s allowed, through to the type of creative assets you can use. 
• Have all posts go through an approval process, and ensure that only trusted, trained staff members are given the ability to interact with customers.
• Fortify your accounts with 2-factor authentication to prevent security breaches from outside parties and disgruntled employees looking to cause havoc.

Should you find yourself amid a social media firestorm, try to keep calm. From here on, every move you make needs to be planned meticulously. 

Your first move? Cease all social media activity. No posting. No commenting. No liking. Nothing. 

Next up, start drafting a plan on how you’ll respond. Consider your brand’s reputation, yes, but address the root of the problem. Acknowledge the problem and, should the situation demand it, offer a sincere apology. If there’s a particular piece of content that caused the crisis, remove it immediately. 

Don’t shy away from the situation. Engage with your followers as much as possible, and prove that you’re committed to putting things right. 

Above all, learn from your mistakes. Once the situation has settled down, conduct a thorough post-mortem, and assess the hows and whys of the crisis. Document your learnings, and incorporate them into your crisis management plan.

 

The lessons above are varied, but there is a clear emphasis on humanity here—being personable and approachable. Ecommerce brands can build deeper, more meaningful relationships with their customers through community management. Naturally, this translates into better brand image, greater brand cachet, and a stronger PR strategy overall.

Yes, trawling through a raft of posts, comments, and tweets first thing in the morning can feel like a chore. But when you get such rich insights like the above, it’s a chore worth doing.

Want to take your ecommerce strategy up a notch? We’ve helped loads of ecommerce stores grow their brand, and we can help yours too—get in touch!

 

Originally crafted by Beth, this blog has been collaboratively updated by Alex Daintith to ensure its ongoing relevance and accuracy.