Like everything else in this world, social media has positives and negatives.

The good news is that, like we’ve been telling you, social media is booming. The great majority of businesses have already joined new media, and more are planning to take the plunge. Many of your customers are already established in the online community, and emerging mobile technology practically guarantees their use will increase.

The bad news is that not only are some businesses still neglecting new media altogether, many of them (like we’ve also been telling you) aren’t doing it right.

That’s the good and the bad.  Then, there’s …ahem… the ugly.

If there were ever a better example of how social media can backfire… well, we don’t know what it is.

But while there’s not much you can do (or we could do for you, in all honesty) to recover from a social media booboo of those particular proportions, some public relations and customer service problems can actually be solved through social media.

Taco Bell used new media to fight back against rumors of fillers and additives, using humor and information to retain their customers.

Dell is another company that reacted to their customers through social media interaction, and transformed their customer service from “Dell Hell” to one of the best in the business.

JetBlue is one more example of a company monitoring their online presence… and responding directly to customers in a way that’s making them more popular.

So while the old saying “There’s no such thing as bad publicity” may not be true in every situation…

…in many cases, you can turn a potentially bad situation into a good one by monitoring your social media presence and engaging your customers. As David Svet, president and CEO of Spur Communications says:

People are talking about you. By not participating in those channels you’re not keeping people from talking about you, you’re simply not hearing what they’re saying. That’s dangerous.

Whether you’re wondering about the good (developing or expending your online presence) or the bad (learning how to engage your customers effectively and react to their complaints along with the complements) give us a call. We can help.

On the other hand, if you’ve already ventured into the ugly… well, you’re on your own.