Something new is happening in the circles of social media and customer service. If we’ve got a problem with a company, we head straight to the internet and have a bit of a moan. Yodel have been having a heck of a time with their Amazon deliveries, and LA Fitness had a massive battering when they wouldn’t budge on a difficult contract situation. It seems that if we’re mad at a company, we jump on our favourite social media sites and demand immediate results.

‘Where’s my parcel? It should have been here an hour ago.’
‘You said you’d get back to me in 48 hours, it’s been 47 and I’ve heard nothing. Not good enough, you evil company.’
‘I’m cancelling my contract because you were unreasonable to someone I’ve never met in my life.’

Sometimes, companies deserve a bit of a telling off. Sometimes they’re out of line and we’re right to be annoyed. But of demand for immediate attention means that we don’t complain via email or phone (as the company website will tell us to do). We want to make a fuss and we want it to be public. Now brands and companies have to worry about their online reputation, every tweet they send can have an effect on their business. Every customer service issue a potential Twitter scandal. And Twitter really loves jumping on a bandwagon and being outraged.

The way companies address their customers is different. Consumers will always choose brands that they’re comfortable with, that they want to spend their money with. It comes down to trust. That’s something that social media has a lot of power over. If people you know well gets in a huff because Urban Outfitters’ online delivery service is the worst out there (I believe it is), then you’re going to listen to them. We trust our friends.

But not every Twitter moan needs to be made into an issue. Not every issue needs your entire follower count to be privy to it. We don’t need to have a rant on a company Facebook page. Not only are we blowing things out of proportion, we’re moaning at the wrong people.

Most companies have a social media manager these days. They might look after the company blog as well as Twitter and Facebook. They’ll get involved in online campaigns. They’re very much the voice of the company. But they don’t have access to your online account. They’re not trained to deal with complaints. That’s not their job. All they can do once you’ve moaned is ask for your details and pass it onto the relevant people. They might be able to get it pushed to the top of the pile, but you’re still going the long way around – especially if you haven’t been in touch with the company directly.

LA Fitness haven’t been on Twitter long. It wasn’t the person in control of their social media at fault – yet they bore the brunt of the situation. That’s part and parcel of the job, but we forget than we’re having a pop at a person rather than a company. Social media is supposed to make us more personal online, but it doesn’t always do that. When we’re getting narky with a company online, we’re directing that narkiness at one person for all to see. That’s not cool, and it doesn’t actually achieve anything.

Companies have to be more savvy around social media, but I can’t help but feel that we’ve started going about our complaints the wrong way. Instead of having a go on Twitter and talking to the wrong people, we need to go through the right channels first. Let’s give companies a chance to do their jobs before we slam them publicly.