LocalResponse is a new social media tool that basically tells which customers you should reward for their loyalty to your business.
The tool collects all online data from location check-ins to your establishment and conversation about your business from various social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook, foursquare and Instagram.

LocalResponse uses natural-language processing to analyze if the online conversations about your business is positive or negative.
The aggregated data is summarized in a dashboard so users can easily access the information. LocalResponse will search for the Twitter users who mention their product or business the most. It will display who these customers are and where you can find them on Twitter or Facebook.

With this knowledge, business owners can reply to their customers and thank them for visiting their store. They can even offer a few dollars off for their most loyal patrons.

LocalResponse will also tap online influence-measuring services such as Klout to help companies identify the people they can connect with to promote their business.

In a New York Times article, it was mentioned that LocalResponse has been getting positive feedback in its mere six month of existence. The article said that three out of five LocalResponse messages were clicked.

The service, in essence, allows companies to not just monitor their online presence but also create ease of access for them to reach out to their current and potential customers. Suffice it to say, this new social media tool has very good potential to streamline companies’ online engagements.

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Handling customer complaints can be tricky.

At sometime or another, there will be a customer who has a bad experience. Before the internet, they would tell their friends and the business owner may never have heard from them. In today’s world, a critic can go online, post a bad review Yelp or a similar site, or even create a video explaining their grievance in great detail. Here are three tips for responding to an online critic.

Tip 1: Wait at least 24 hours before you respond. Understandably, you will be upset, but responding while you are angry can make things worse. Overreacting can lead to a whole string of communications that only make the reputation of your business worse.

Tip 2: Respond directly to the critic, privately. Plan your response, write a draft, edit it, then post your response on the review site. Always acknowledge the complaint and do not get defensive. Offer information about what has been done to correct the issue and apologize for the less than stellar experience the customer had. Invite them to try your business again. A discount will usually help.

Tip 3: This should only be used in a last ditch effort and only if there is are gross inaccuracies in the negative review. Write a public response to the review. Correct the inaccurate information, only. Do not attack the reviewer or lose your cool while writing. The response will be online forever, be sure to improve your company’s image, not worsen it.

A negative review is an opportunity for you to show your professionalism more than anything else. Consumers are aware that bad experiences happen. There is a very little chance that one bad review will destroy your customer base. Keep your cool and turn this into a positive.

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Social media outlets have become a vital part of a marketing director’s arsenal. The new regulations take the responsible position that social media should be subject to the same standards as other forms of advertising and marketing to help prevent misleading ads and to insure social responsibility and the protection of children.

As with any government guidelines there are loopholes and gray areas. It is a best practice to avoid falling into a loophole. It may be possible to ‘pull one over’, but those same loopholes can open a company to lawsuits as well as negative backlash from the public. A company’s branding can suffer greatly from one poorly conceived campaign. Gray areas usually lead down the path to backlash.

Possibly, the lasting impact of the new rules is to validate social media as a marketing tool. Now marketers can show their bosses that it’s not a risky, unregulated venue, but a mature form of marketing that can not be ignored.

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