To test the effect of the (combined) strategies, I manipulated them. Because in webcare the communication style ('human voice' versus 'professional voice') is often different from that of the standard communication (corporate website, blog, PR page) of an organization, I also included this variable in my experiment.
I measured the perception of an organization's reputation based on the following characteristics: emotional appeal, products and services, vision and leadership, work environment and financial performance. Respondents completed a questionnaire after reading the Twitter dialogue. Thanks in part to Frankwatching's call, some 250 respondents participated in my research. Below you can read the most important results and the most effective webcare response.
My results show that both strategy 1 (apology and correction) and 3 (information, iraq telegram data sympathy and compensation) ensure a good reputation. However, strategy 3 scores better on the emotional dimensions of the reputation, namely the emotional appeal of the organization and the working climate. And personality, emotion and appeal are so important on social media. This may be because the organization with strategy 3 addresses that one (complaining) stakeholder, while with the other strategy it focuses more on all stakeholders and partly focuses on the organization, namely the improvement process. The communication style does not influence this. Human voice is probably considered an intrinsic property of Twitter and not so much attributed to the communication style of the organization.
Research results
Click on the image to enlarge. To increase the clarity of the examples, the conversations are arranged in chronological order. This differs from the order Twitter uses.
In short
Text cloudAs an organization, it is best to give an informative and sympathetic response in the dialogue with stakeholders, and where possible compensation. Organizations would therefore be wise to continue to provide information and show sympathy as they already seem to do. However, the focus should be more on combining these strategies. After all, social media such as Twitter thrive on personality and emotion. An apology sounds too graphic for webcare, because we say 'sorry' too easily without giving it much meaning. So don't say sorry too quickly, sympathy is often much more appropriate and authentic!
Over the past few months I have used these results to develop the strategy and vision on webcare of energiedirect.nl . I am curious whether my results also match your experiences. Feel free to leave a comment below.