Modern business is tied to social media at the hip. Companies can’t fully function without the help of social media, more so where marketing and promotion is concerned. Whether your business focuses on services or products, you must master the art of using social media to turn negative reviews into positive reviews.

Until recently, businesses such as brow & hair salons didn’t consider social media marketing an essential pillar in their customer satisfaction journey. However, bad reviews have become a downfall for most brow salons who initially didn’t pay much attention to social media reviews.

The few who already know this secret have turned around bad reviews about their business to great reviews within a short time. But how did they do this? Well, through social media. Today, companies that use social media to turn negative reviews into positive reviews thrive more.

Building a Strong Social Media Presence

It’s easy to determine what your customers see or read about your salon. All you need is to sustain an active social media presence that helps you portray the kind of image you want your customers to embrace.

Your first step should be to build a solid social media presence with pages on the most popular platforms. Once you do this, ensure that the social media pages or platforms have an adequate supply of content. Today, salons with an active social media presence can load such platforms with engaging information. Content can be pictures of your work, products you sell or general info about your salon.

Beyond creating content, further, ensure that your purpose of resolving any concern with clients before such issues spiral into social media. Salons that have successfully turned bad reviews into great reviews always encourage constant resolution of emergent customer issues via inbox.

Once a customer raises a pertinent issue on social media, always consider the inbox option rather than engaging in a long back and forth with customers online. You will be surprised at the many negative reviews you can avoid by rushing into your inbox to address issues before they escalate.

The business that understands the impact of social media on their reputation always takes time to identify unhappy customers early. But this calls for an active social media presence. It makes the situation worse when businesses respond to existing negative reviews on their social media platforms way later. In such cases, you give room for other customers to unleash a floodgate of negative reviews. An active online presence allows you to respond immediately and reassure your customers.

This is how a salon that had terrible reviews was able to turn things around and build positive reviews. An active social media presence solves the problem.

Respond Privately First

The truth is that most customers result in posting their frustrations online when all other channels hit a snag. It’s critical to contact unhappy customers with urgency when they first make their concerns known. Sometimes a simple direct message can be the difference between a negative and positive review.

Customers often want to feel appreciated and the assurance that their concerns matter. A direct message will often pacify the mess. If you can resolve the issue via a direct message, all the customer needs to do is revert to the initial post and delete it or write a rejoinder with a positive review. It’s critical to avoid direct engagement with customers on your social media platform. Chatting privately helps keep emotions in check. As a business, it would work to your disadvantage if you decide to engage in conversations that would potentially turn emotional. Remember that your social media platform is a reflection of you.

Salons that have been able to turn negative reviews into positive feedback always attempt first to address customer-related concerns privately.

Have A Dedicated Social Media Team

Hire a social media person or schedule the time into your day. Social media is no longer a plus, it’s a must. If you decide to run your own its important to look at other successful salons and social media accounts to see how they run. Its easier to copy what is already successful than try to reinvent the wheel.

If you are large enough consider hiring an outside party to take over. While this may mean parting with an extra dollar, the impact is incredible. Ideally, you may be too engaged in managing the core of the business. The time and ability to deal with the recurrent social media issues may eventually become a headache for you. And this is how companies end up with negative social media reviews.

If you decide to run the social media account yourself its important to do so frequently enough that you have time in your schedule to quickly respond to negative reviews. Keep the apps on your phone so that you can be notified when a review comes in.

Encourage Positive Customer Feedback

Most times, satisfied customers outnumber unhappy clients. Even then, negative reviews are likely to overshadow your positive reputation because most satisfied customers rarely give feedback. If you want to turn those negative reviews into positive feedback, the best way would be to encourage positive reviews. 

Unfortunately, some customers won’t offer their feedback on their experience with you unless prompted. You can consider incentives that build a sense of willingness to provide positive reviews in such cases. If your business is grappling with a bucket-full of negative reviews, you can turn the tide around by encouraging more satisfied customers to endorse your brand.

Smaller salons can usually rely on their good will they’ve built with customers to ask them to leave positive reviews. Larger salons and chains can offer incentives for reviews.

Demonstrate a Commitment to Review and Improve

The main reason why most businesses end up with negative reviews is due to the perception they present to their customers. Every customer likes to see a commitment towards continuous improvement from a company.

Customers who show a commitment towards reviewing and improving tend to develop a strong sense of loyalty. As such, these customers will defend you online and reassure such unhappy customers on your behalf. It’s always fascinating to see loyal customers willing to counter negative reviews with their positive reviews of your business.

Turn Your Business Reviews Around Today

Social media has become a key pillar in selling your business. However, these platforms can also paint your business in the worst form with negative social media reviews. Are you wondering how a salon could turn around negative feedback into positive reviews? These tips confirm the role of social media in turning around your public image.