Is Aviva right to publish only positive customer comments via social media?

Insurance giant Aviva is trying a new online strategy, which will see the brand highlighting positive customer comments in social media.

Using a service provided by feedback reporting provider Service Tick, customers that have given positive feedback scores following online transactions will be given the option to post comments on social networking sites. Glowing comments can be easily linked through to Facebook and Twitter, where they will generate special promotional offers.

It’s an interesting strategy, especially as only the relatively limited audience of an individual’s social network will see the offers.

According to Service Tick, one of the unique properties of its Social Advocate service is that it operates in real time – prompting customers to comment at the precise moment when they’re feeling warm towards a brand.

“In the past, we’ve seen attempts by organisations to get their marketing messaging out to customers via the social networks, but consumers see straight through them as it’s not what the networks are about. At best, the campaigns simply fail – at worst, they can damage a brand,” said Kevin Goodings, managing director at ServiceTick.

Aviva is currently using other channels, including television, to emphasise its customer service. The question is whether users of social media will warm to brands using the medium to tell one side of their story.

In contrast to Aviva’s filtering approach, First Direct opted to aggregate both positive and negative comments via a microsite in 2009.