Week 2 Post 1: Blog Post

    Communication between business and customer has changed wildly over the pas 20 years, going from simple ads on the street to being social media giants.  As businesses grow on on social media and on review sites such as Yelp the customer opinion has only become more influencing.  Social media has opened a window for the customers to let the businesses know how they are doing whether good or bad,  and from this has stemmed a new demand for company attention toward the customer.  When a customer leaves a bad review on a site like Yelp they will not always get a response back at all, but a business that values customer opinions will respond and try to fix the problem that occurred.  This method of responding to the customer is so necessary that a lot of people will base their entire view of a company off of the way they treat customers.  Because of the public view of all the customer and company interactions it has brought a new light on the importance that was not there 20 years ago when the only interaction may have been a private phone call.  

    When someone decides to leave a comment unconsciously whether wanted or not they will want a response be it a thank you or a solution to the bad experience.  Many times if there are issues and people comment on them on a site like Twitter the company will want to have the customer private message them as soon as possible by replying to that comment,  this not only shows people that the company is looking for any issues that people may have but that they are willing to try to solve them.  Another way companies interact with the public is just having a good and fun social media presence. The best example of a brand that has a good social media presence would be Wendy’s, they consistently post fun things on Twitter and even interact with other brands.

    Personally I do not leave many comments or interact with businesses whether I have a good experience or not.  I have only left two reviews of anything and both times they were bad, and both times they deserved it.  The most recent one was back in September 2020 and it was for a Mediterranean place in Riverside, CA.  This particular restraint had good reviews on Google so we decided to go in for some dinner, two people in the whole restaurant  so it was just us.  None of the people were wearing masks and since it was late and we needed food we ordered anyway,  they prepared the food without any hairnets and without gloves and masks on, they did not wash their hands either, so I left a bad review on Yelp where I saw other bad reviews about not wearing masks which was a shame for the restaurant.  I always check reviews of places on multiple sites now before I even think of going and if they have bad reviews for legitimate reasons then I do not even give a second thought.  I think this is so important to provide not only good service but to look at the reviews and presence that the company has on the internet as a whole because it definitely does influence peoples opinions.  

    If I had a business I believe I would be very active on almost all social media’s, posting updates and interacting with customers.  If I personally look at a company’s business Instagram or Twitter and their last post was months ago I will not bother looking at it anymore because I know nothing is updated, and the same goes for the company’s website.  It is so important to be responsive to people now and to have a good presence on social media so if there was any review or comment directly toward the business I think it would be important to respond to it in some capacity at least so the person knows you saw it and not just sending it into the void at an empty inactive business account. Fixing issues people have and thanking people who had a great experience will make them want to come back and it will let outside people know that the company cares and is not just some corporate business with robot replies to every comment, it is important to have humanity in the replies.