Comments on: Don’t Fear the Conversation: Four Reasons People/Companies Reject Social Media and Shouldn’t

By: Brandon Chesnutt

Brandon Chesnutt — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 20:39:03 +0000

Great list. Blogged it.

I think an important one to add to this list is the lack of understanding when it comes to ROI. Seeing immediate ROI isn’t the same with social media as it is with traditional marketing and advertising programs or Web 1.0 pr practices, which can be a concern for some companies. Mashable has a great piece detailing some effective ways to measure the ROI of new media… something that would surely ease the fears of the C-Suite and show them that participation can move products. http://tinyurl.com/5sdgo4

@Steve – Another way to address number 3 is looking at it as brand control. As Christy mentioned, customers and clients are writing negative (and positive) reviews on multiple channels. If they want to vent, they will find away. By becoming involved in the conversation, and responding to negative criticism if it happens to arise, you are saving face and (more importantly) defending your brand. Just look at what Dell did with Direct2Dell: http://tinyurl.com/2dpuhq
(I know that article is from 2007, but people are STILL commenting on it)

They listened, countered all the bad stories with good ones on their own medium and saved relationships with many customers.

By: Zing Indianapolis | Web Strategies

Zing Indianapolis | Web Strategies — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 23:17:21 +0000

[...] in, I’d turn you to Sarah “Intellagirl” Robbins’ recent blog post at Ubernoggin’ or get in touch and we can [...]

By: Geoff Cain

Geoff Cain — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 01:40:17 +0000

On the other hand, the research shows that more companies in the Fortune 500 are using web 2.0 technologies, and we are going to see a push by companies to catch up: http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/study_fast_growing_us_companie.php

By: Daily Bookmarks 08/25/2008 « Experiencing E-Learning

Daily Bookmarks 08/25/2008 « Experiencing E-Learning — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 23:24:38 +0000

[...] Don’t Fear the Conversation: Four Reasons People/Companies Reject Social Media and Shouldn’t : U… [...]

By: admin

admin — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 22:40:30 +0000

Steve: Christy is right on, of course. But I would add that it’s not a space to criticize, it’s a space for conversation. Assuming that the conversation is negative is admitting something much more detrimental.
I don’t think any of us has a product or service that’s so perfect we can afford to not care what other people think at all. But there sure are folks who provide such awful products that they don’t have to care (and usually don’t).
I can’t think of a bad product that had good customer service. Can you?
Intellagirl

By: Christy Tucker

Christy Tucker — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 22:25:52 +0000

Steve, I think one of the responses can be that people already have spaces online to criticize companies. Rip Off Report comes to mind immediately, but I’m sure you could come up with a dozen others with a little research. Would you rather have those criticisms happen on other people’s sites, where you may or may not have the ability to respond, or on your own site, where you can control the response?

The second, and more important, response is this: understanding your customers should be critical to your mission. If it’s not, you have bigger problems. Social media can give you a way to get insight into your customers and their needs. If they criticize you, but you can respond by explaining or improving your service or whatever, don’t you end up ahead?

By: Steve Hayes

Steve Hayes — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 21:29:41 +0000

Re: 3. “We’re worried that if we start a conversation that people will say bad things about us.”

How would you respond to this related concern – “Why should we offer a space where people can criticize us? That is not critical to our mission.”

By: Barbara

Barbara — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 20:57:12 +0000

What about the old addiction scare. Humans addicted to communication! Egads! Worse yet, what if someone says something trivial! Or uses too many exclamation marks!