Client:
“We are happy to embrace social media but if we are going to enter a forum and help our public with there questions and issues we would like to pose as a ‘valued customer’ of the company who has had a high-quality service and wishes to scream and shout about it rather than having a representative of the company.”
DigiKev:
“This is not a very sound thing to do, in doing so and repeatedly being the ‘valued customer’ you will be rumbled. It hardly takes a lot to know that the so called valued customer is a representative of your company. The community you are trying to embrace will ignore you, or worse you will be flamed and spammed and bad-mouthed until you are so buried you won’t be able to see above ground. The press will likely catch on and your good name will be dragged through the dirt.”
Client:
“…Okay, granted but this is the only way that we are prepared to communicate with our public as we do not want to lose control of the company pr. Having an individual or individuals representing our company and taking our stand point on our behalf could go badly in our favour. What if they get it wrong? What if they get bombarded with off topic questions? What if? What if?”
DigiKev:
“There is a great opportunity here to get down to the grassroots. Yes you will have to let go of the control. Social media is all about human communication. You don’t need to get sucked into off topic questions; if they are irrelevant say so, if the information is contained in your site then direct them to that information. Don’t be worried about losing control and if someone makes a mistake they just tell the community, look sorry I am human, I made a mistake and this is what it should have been. Finding out where your company is lacking from those that you are selling to is golden information; giving that up is just business suicide and your competitors (who are or will be employing a public figure to the company) will succeed. If you can’t trust whoever you have employed to be the voice of your company to speak to your public then I am afraid you have employed the wrong people.”
Does this sound familiar to anyone? Plenty of businesses are yet to jump on what the web can offer at the detriment of sales and popularity. Hiding behind thickly built walls of pr and controlling every element of how the company is seen and portrayed isn’t going to cut the mustard. The trends section of Marketing Week 17.01.08 notes “two thirds of social networkers are likely to buy a product as a result of a referral by a friend or online acquaintance – equating to £750m in online sales”. I am not saying that the only method is to deploy public speaking figures of the company in forum websites. Embracing social networking and the new age of digital media by conversing, allowing comments and feedback on a blog or by whatever other means you feel fit is key to business survival online. Non-communicative businesses that turn there back on social media, or worse try to control and fake in the social playground as described in the opening dialogue, in my opinion will begin to lose out to competitors that fully embrace and get social media.
What experiences have you had with clients and there perception of social media? How have you dealt with and explained the subject to them? Do you agree that businesses embracing social media and engaging conversations with the public will prosper?