Recently Best Buy had one heck of a run in with a negative crowd in their Best Buy Facebook community after posting the following question:
What do you think about offering Bestbuy.com in Spanish?
Maggie McGary writes the article Best Buy Asks The Wrong Question On Facebook on Social Media Today and asks basically why Facebook bothered when supposedly most of their users were English speakers. Of course, in a Facebook group such as the one Best Buy currently has, they may speak English, but there are so many different people that do not use English as a first language. In fact, I would be cocky enough to say, go for it Best Buy. The more you can reach, the merrier.
Multi-Merchant Channel‘s article written by Tim Parry called Live From Shop.org: Best Buy Learns How to Handle Facebook Cranks tells how representative and senior director of interactive marketing and emerging media for Best Buy, Tracy Benson basically said that they had to pull they whole question and comments off their page because people were becoming ‘rude’ and ‘racist.’
I am not sure how Maggie thinks some things are not racist, but when it comes down to it, it is all wrong to act in a manner that is uncivil – period. No one deserves that treatment and usually they not only effect the company, but other users as well. If the responses were negative, as in meaning that they were not for the ideas, as long as a logical answer was provided why, that would have been far more acceptable. Best Buy did not ask the wrong question, but they did not go into interacting more to find out logical pros and cons to research their question for marketing ideas.
As for Best Buy, if they get back down to their basics on talking with their fans/ clients (I almost have to assume that most of the people who are ‘fans’ on the Facebook page for Best Buy have at least been a client 1 time) as they started when they pushed forth with their Best Buy Twelpforce on Twitter. As for negative comments that constitute as uncalled for and uncivil, those comment should be removed, just like in any blog, message board, or social network community.
So, have you taken a lesson from this for your own, blog, and/or communities you either run or participate in? What other suggestions would you have if put in the situation that Best Buy had been?
I think it is near impossible to discuss the sorts of issues Best Buy wanted to without a general comment on our political situation, and that situation is going to trump any amount of clever marketing or outreach. By that I mean this: yes, you can ban one user or two users or delete a negative comment here or there. You are almost not going to be able to do that with the flood of vitriol and hatred that exists nowadays and has no one to check it.
I think Best Buy should have been more specific with their questions to a targeted audience, given how things are nowadays. Does that mean Best Buy was at fault for what happened? Not at all: there are people who really need to learn to be quiet nowadays, and things really are getting that much worse – one of the fun things I’m learning as a blogger is how much open support people are giving to white supremacists online.
Yes, they probably should have been more specific, or they could have just done a test trial and tell customers all over the world they had a fan page for the sections they already have on their main site.
I just think some people take their ‘freedoms’ a bit too far.
Agreed. Best Buy had the right instinct by offering their site in Spanish. Hey, why not go the Wikipedia route and have it in dozens of languages?
But where they failed was the response to the negative comments. Why not take the high road and leave them there and be clear that Best Buiy in no way condones comments such as that. Maybe even name names of those who posted them!
Thanks for the thoughtful blog post.
Thanks. I think that people were just finding a reason to be out of control and Best Buy never had seen such behavior in mass form.
Growing up in Canada I guess I’m spoiled because we have either a english or french versions of each big chain website (like best buy)
I personally think all big chain websites no matter where they are should be able to have the option for customers to be able to click a link and the website would be in spanish or french or english or whatever.