Comments on: Ignoring Social Media Makes You Mute, Not Invisible

By: Nick Stamoulis

Nick Stamoulis — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 14:31:19 +0000

Companies cannot be scared to try things especially social media. Social media is where the search engines where in the late 90′s. Social media is not going away so it is important to be hitting it hard for every business.

By: Dave Snyder

Dave Snyder — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 14:40:31 +0000

One piece I think is missing from most conversational marketing strategies is real change to the customer service that caused the issue. You have to be involved in the conversation if your brand comes under attack, but if you are not willing to make real change to the catalyst of the attack then you are really throwing a bottle of water at an inferno.

A great example for me is @comcastcares. An epic fail and waste of time. They get involved in the conversation, but Comcast keeps the same sub par attitude towards customer service. This makes their social strategy seem empty and more of a farce than an action that benefits the consumer.

A strong conversational marketing campaign should get the customer service component of an organization involved, as well as feed market research (in this case user sentiment) back to the appropriate channels for change.

By: claire stokoe

claire stokoe — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 11:42:17 +0000

Could not agree more Lisa, this idea that ‘if we just sit here and do nothing we won’t get talked about’ is madness. Just recently we have helped 3 companies avoid some embarrassing customer service issues. It’s not that difficult is it, just talk to your customers… in any way you can.

Great post by the way :)

By: Andrew

Andrew — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 02:13:55 +0000

Beautifully said, Lisa. I think people need to understand that social media is like a hammer: it’s a tool, and whether or not it’s a ‘good thing’ (for creating things) or a ‘bad thing’ (to break things/injure people) just depends on how you use it.

In ten years’ time, when social media is so in-grained in everyone’s way of life that we can’t imagine life without it (think mobile phones), we’ll look back and laugh that companies thought they could get away with not having their own SM presence.

By: Alissa Sheley

Alissa Sheley — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 19:26:58 +0000

Lisa -
Love the post and your approach. You’re absolutely right, yet I’m still finding social media to be difficult to sell to some clients. We’ve been able to point out all of the ways ignoring can hurt them, how their customers are already talking about them and how they are missing the opportunities to build relationships, but they can’t get past the potential security issues. Specifically if someone where to hack their profile and send out unauthorized messages or viruses. Any thoughts on that?
Thanks,
@alissasheley

By: Anatoly

Anatoly — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 15:23:04 +0000

You have to learn swimming with the sharks or be eaten. Sitting at the shore is not the issue.
I absolutely agree with Lisa.

By: Social Media Commando

Social Media Commando — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:24:11 +0000

FAIL: Sitting on the sidelines while everyone around you rushes onto the Battlefield is completely inexcusable today. I was at a Social Media Breakfast on Monday with PRSarahEvans and Jason Kintzler of PitchEngine, focusing largely on PR. Many of the questions from the audience came from representatives of small and medium sized businesses -- and the same refrain came up over and over: "How can we control negative publicity?" "Should we acknowledge negative commenters?" "When is it acceptable to delete unflattering comments from our blog?" The answer to these fears is consistent. Talk to people, share your perspective, learn about what people love AND hate about your brand. Address the negative vibes and work to fix them where you can. I think people fear Social Media because they are still focused on controlling the conversation, and while this may have been somewhat possible in the Old PR World, it's not possible today. But it's not possible for everyone, not just for you, so that levels the playing field. Responsiveness and customer service are new benchmarks for good PR (along with killer distribution...). ...and one last thought: Since when is a negative comment here and there a BAD thing? When people form an opinion, positive or negative, it means they're passionate enough about your brand to participate in the conversation about it.

By: Yawn Webmaster!

Yawn Webmaster! — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 08:38:58 +0000

Reluctance towards social media is less about the things you talk about and more about the innability of Social Media service companies to be able to present compelling strategics plans that communicate in terms that most big brands can understand, and more importantly, can justify to their managers.

By: Jon Buscall

Jon Buscall — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 07:17:37 +0000

@Cassie,
That’s a great point. I manage a Twitter account for a senior high school and find students mouthing off about the school on Twitter. By responding and engaging with them through the service you can get positive results.

The management staff didn’t get Twitter to begin with but now they realise that it’s better to be involved than just let the conversation go on without you.

By: Rebecca Kelley

Rebecca Kelley — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 00:02:13 +0000

Social media is people! PEE-PULLLLLLLLL!!