Blog Post Week 3 Post 1

1) Have you ever experienced difficulty communicating with a business?

Now that everything is able to be found easily though a search bar and purchased with a click of a button, I've spent a great amount of money through online purchases. I have experience great communication which helped me give positive feedback to many companies, but have also had a few incident's where the communication from companies side wasn't too great, and ultimately left me as a frustrated customer. I specifically remember purchasing from a bathing suit company who advertised their bathing suit all over Facebook. When I made the purchase and received the bathing suit, the suit was in good condition but it did not look anything like what was seen in the advertised image. When I tried on the bathing suit, the measurements weren't as advertised and did not fit properly. When I e-mailed the company, their response was that the bathing suit was in good condition so technically, nothing was wrong and they would not refund or allow an exchange.  

2) Does social media make it easier to get noticed or get your problem solved?

I personally did not use social media to get my problem solved, but I have seen (especially in the make up industry on social media) consumers give their feedback on a brand/ item and companies respond or make a small comment on their social media. I have also seen companies reach out and apologize to a consumer if someone has posted negative feedback to try to make up for the inconvenience, and to also make sure that the negative feedback doesn't spread. I think social media makes it easier to get noticed or solved if you have a strong opinion and post a lot about your opinion.

3)Have you ever had a positive experience communicating with a business through social media?

I have had positive experience communicating with a business through social media. Many businesses understand a connection is made with a customer and the brand when the brand simply "likes" an image or reposts a review/ photo of a customer. With photography, I've had jewelry businesses reach out and sent free items to take pictures and post for others to see. 

4)If it was your own business on social media, how would you respond to positive or negative comments?

If it was my own business, I would like to take the time to thank each review. All responses, are still feedback to help grow a business. If there were any specific negative comments, I would reach out and try to resolve the issue or take in the negative feedback to try to make sure it wouldn't happen in the future. 

5)Describe what made your experience negative or positive.

In the bathing suit purchase mentioned in the first question, the negative experience came from the lack of the company willing to compromise. I was not happy with the purchase but was willing to return it for a different bathing suit, but when they responded that technically there was nothing wrong with it, it seemed as if they didn't care to find a solution. I haven't purchased from the site again and eventually, I found out that I knew other people who weren't happy with their purchases as well. A positive experience would be when the same exact situation happened with another company, it wasn't an issue at all to return and simply apply the credit to another item.