Who’s Next? Have you Googled Yourself Lately?
I wonder how many businesses out there are paying attention to the change that is going on in terms of brand and reputation management. With the proliferation of Social Media, the power to define and control a brand is now shifting from corporations and institutions to individuals and communities.
Back in 2005, before Social Media became popular, blogger Jeff Jarvis who, among other accreditations, was creator and founding editor of Entertainment Weekly, Sunday editor and associate publisher of the New York Daily News, TV critic for TV Guide and People, purchased a Dell computer which he considered a lemon. When he wasn’t able to get the customer service he was looking for, he proceeded to take Dell down a very lonely path after writing a blog which he entitled “Dell Lies. Dell Sucks”. Not an attractive headline.
At the time, Jeff was not able to get Dell’s Executive to respond in the online forum. It was only after their customer satisfaction, market share and share price took a beating that they started paying attention to Social Media. Since that time, Dell has done a complete turnaround and in 2007, they began using Twitter to market its used and refurbished equipment.
Recently, they announced $2M of revenue directly attributable to their @DellOutlet Twitter id and another $1M of revenue from clickthroughs to their Dell.com site. Jeff now says he blew Dell a big wet kiss. If you check out their website, you will see a “community” section where they have incorporated a solid SM approach to doing business. Even their employees are now blogging on Dell’s behalf. Bravo Dell!
This should have been a road map for other organizations to follow! Fast forward to 2009.
Earlier this spring, Domino’s Pizza were blind-sided when a couple of its employees uploaded a video to YouTube, portraying them breaking every health rule possible while involved in food preparation. With no one from their organization paying any attention to reputation management online, it took a consumer to bring it to their attention. There is now a lawsuit pending. Not surprisingly, I am now seeing Domino’s ads everywhere professing their high customer sat ratings in 2009.
I can only imagine how expensive this recovery effort is to say nothing of the cost of the lawsuit compared to the cost of some reputation management software and a little awareness. To their credit, Dominos’ President addressed the incident by publishing its own YouTube video shortly thereafter.
It’s time for businesses to sit up and take notice. Keeping track of what’s being said about your organization online is becoming increasingly important. And it’s not just big business that needs to pay attention. Small business owners are just as much if not more vulnerable to having their reputation sullied from a dissatisfied consumer. Social Media is word of mouth marketing, and bad press can really hurt you.
It’s time to jump on the bandwagon people! And, if you’re unsure how to track your own or your company’s reputation online, there is help out there. While you are at it, it’s probably time to take a look at an overall Social Media strategy for your business. As a Social Media Specialist Virtual Assistant, I can help you from strategy and action planning to profile building and on-going maintenance and support. It’s much easier to create a positive flow of communication at the outset than to back pedal and recover from a media disaster.
So, do you know what’s being said about you? Go ahead Google yourself…regularly.
While physically located in Newmarket Ontario where Joanne lives with her family, as a VA, she is virtually yours anywhere….
