In an article today in the Boston Globe called “Hurry up, the customer has a complaint”, author Carolyn Johnson cites several examples of consumers complaining quite publicly about products and services in their blogs and other social media options like Twitter.
“We’re in a world where one person, by their actions, can make a
company look bad, and it can get echoed and amplified over and over
again,” said Josh Bernoff, an analyst at Forrester Research
and coauthor of “Groundswell,” a book about business and social
technologies. “The power has shifted, [so] that big companies now have
to be worried about one individual with a microphone called a blog.”
Frankly, I’d call it a megaphone, not a microphone. I’ve personally seen the amazing reach of a “meme” (conversation) that explodes through the blogosphere. And believe me, reach and frequency can be exponential, especially where a little brand controversy is involved.
The article goes on to make great examples of companies like Comcast, Southwest Airlines and Dell; each of whom have people dedicated to monitoring their online reputations for consumer kudos and complaints.
My bottom line on this?
If you do nothing more than listen to the chatter online, you’re doing more to protect your brand, your online reputation, and (likely) your value as a company, than most. Listening is the very first step to success.
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