Social Media and all its multiple touch points (Blogs, Twitter, Facebook, social networks,share buttons and f=Forums) scares some Jamaican companies. They are afraid to put their company and its products and services up to public scrutiny. “What do we do with all the negative comments ?” -This is the most popular response I’ve heard over the last year from some company executives as they’ve assumed that is all they will get . The two other typical responses have been “Why do we have to be so directly connected to people online ? ” , and “Ok ok so if we are really going to place ourselves out there who is going to manage it ?”
Let me address the # 1 reason Jamaican companies are scared of going online and using Social Media.
What do we do with all those negative comments?
This is just fear right ? or is it that the company realises that their products and services, are not where they should be and they are just afraid of people telling it to their social media faces on twitter, in forums and on Facebook. As we now know, consumers are always talking about your brand, company, products and services anyway, offline and online. It’s just that what they are saying, negative or positive, now spreads faster and to more people than ever before, because they are spending more time online and using all those share it tools they have at their fingertips.
The point companies need to understand howeve,r is that consumers are not doing anything new, they are just doing it in a different space, faster, better and sharing it with alot more people. And yes and that’s scary isn’t it? So I get it, companies feel out of control.
They are so used to building a product, getting a focus group to agree with it, putting it out there and then swamping the market with buy-it-now advertising on television, radio and in the newspapers and magazines. That’s called PUSH marketing. The company rationale was,the more we PUSH it into their faces, the more they’ll remember and then eventually they will go buy it.
Consumers are now in control, they get to cherry pick.
Now because consumers have greater access to information, have a wider range of choices available to them, they can now research your company, product or services, get details, seek recommendations from friends, and if your product or service is in di runnings, is part of that social mind share you win, if not , well your goose is cooked.
Consumers are now in control, they get to cherry pick, PULL to them what they like, what their friends say they like, so it’s up to companies to provide the brightest, sweetest cherry possible so they get selected and bought. So the back patting and I-have no-other-choice-but-to-buy-this kind of sale days have ended for the smug, non-evolving and average company. Yippee for consumers. Boohoo for some companies.
So What?!
And again I argue, so what if you get negative comments, how about the adage of constructive criticism makes your stronger. Negative comments can also be seen as great feedback, like free market research, consumers sharing with you what they don’t like and also what they do want, who knows you could get a great product or service idea from a negative comment.
Unsolicited Advice
So my unsolicited advice to Jamaican companies tentative about going online and jumping into social media marketing and online advertising is:
1. Get over yourselves this is the way of the new world, this global digital marketplace and yes you are out of control, the consumers have the reigns now, so get used to it and love it up as I told my CARIMAC PR and Marketing Manager students a month ago. Smart companies listen and let the consumers lead them to the new promise land.
2. Know Before You Go. Approach going online and going into the social media space as you would anything else-Know Before You Go-do your research before you spend a dime. Go to Facebook and Twitter and use the Search facility generously. Set up Google Alerts. Consult with Google Trends. Go to local, regional directories, forums, blogs and just listen and observe initially.
3. Seek professionals, not some el cheapo negro, someone with an accent and the glossy gift of gab or worse your 16 year old son or niece…unless of course you would allow them to run your company.
Want to be notified when there is new content to read on SiliconCaribe? Then Subscribe.
Right now people are talking about our own local brands whether they have a presence in social media, or not. Having put yourself and your brand in the position for your consumer to have some interactions with you opens the door for other opportunities, you have a direct line to them. Find out what it is that you do well or poorly, what they would like to see. Social Media is just another way of saying word-of-mouth, I had a shared experience with a friend who was having trouble with his MacBook Pro. Only because I had very pleasant experiences with Apple over the last few months and with the personality Apple has, chances are they are going to give you the best customer experience they can. Now you are hearing about that experience by word-of-mouth and social media works just in the same way.
A customer had a bad experience and goes on Facebook like a bull in a… well you know the rest. Imagine you where in a room together, same customer, same problem, ask how would you tackle that problem. Now the same room, but everyone is watching, same customer, same problem would you tackle that problem any differently. Social Media is that room where everyone is watching to see how that is handled, whether it be good or bad. For good, it serves to say “Everyone likes this product, I should try it”, an acquisition. For bad, it serves to say “I got bad information, but they called me and resolved my issue almost immediately, I’m coming back”.
Why would you not want to know what people are thinking
November 3rd, 2009 at 11:09 pm
Dale well said and great addition to the discussion….and a good parting question….why would you not want to know what people are thinking?! Yeah why? How is playing ostrich helping your brand or bottom line.
As Social Media has been defined…it’s conversations enabled by tools such as blogs, forums, social networks, share this buttons, online chat and email….why wouldn’t a company want to JOIN THE CONVERSATION.
Fear is so not a reason not to.
November 3rd, 2009 at 11:39 pm
We also have the same problem here in the French West Indies, may be because of the size of the companies (most of them are more or less 1 or 2 employees working very often under water).
The solution could come from asocial media specialized trust third party. It’s may be a new market for Call centers??????
November 8th, 2009 at 11:34 am
Great post! As a Jamaican national who works with Caribbean clients, it’s so amazing to see the fear you describe. I think the new model is not talking and PR-ing your consumers to death. I look at it as a free focus group - to help you get a 360-perspective that in the past was to costly for a small business to do.
I like your column and the fact that you are a drop in the forward-thinker ocean in the Caribbean.
November 9th, 2009 at 7:02 pm
I agree with you Debi. A change in thinking and approach to customers is seriously needed. It is changing and changing. I thinnk 2010 will be a banner year for this. So we’ll see.
November 9th, 2009 at 11:50 pm
Do you think another reason for this fear of Social Media could be a lack of confidence in their product or service?
I also think that “back in the day” many companies thought that they should hold on to their knowledge for fear that the competition would steal their ideas but in this day and age, knowledge sharing is a powerful tool. It encourages consumer confidence, trust and an acknowledgment of a product or service’s quality over the competition.
Younger business owners and some of the older ones who are willing to embrace this web 2.0 world will eventually bring the masses along… with time.
November 21st, 2009 at 11:57 am
Karen, very much so…lack of confidence in their product or service is THE underlying reason for the fear of Social Media…it leaves them wide open to consumers and competition seeing, knowing, reading, hearing what others have to say. But again it’s all about making that work for you….make better products, improve your service to a WOW…that’s what consumers demand these days.
November 23rd, 2009 at 2:32 pm