One of my contacts pointed me to Getting To First Base, which is an introductory book to online marketing via social networking. It has a less evangelical feel than The Cluetrain Manifesto where rethinking business is concerned, and provides a good overview of the social sphere and guidelines for how to start wading in that pool. It’s also an extremely easy read—I was able to get through it in less than an hour, despite Acrobat Reader’s refusal to scroll through the pages smoothly.
Just before hitting the half-way mark in the book, I started to really wonder how many companies are well-managed enough to know how to properly use the advice given. With all sizes of companies and not-for-profits, there seems to me that the separation between those who know how to engage and those who don’t is vast. It doesn’t feel like the basic concepts of brand management and public relations has really changed. What has changed isn’t even who is talking about you, but how much more the “public” and “consumers” are able to be heard by each other.
Perhaps most people haven’t realized it, or maybe they just don’t want to talk about it, but the strength of the consumers’ voice means that PR can no longer be a simple whitewashing of a company. Although mistakes happen and the public can be forgiving, a company now really needs to be well-managed, self-aware, honest and transparent to not become a company people love to hate.
The problem? The perception is that many companies were not built on principles of good management, self-awareness, honesty and transparency. In most cases, that’s true. And changing the culture of a company is extremely difficult, and increasingly so with the age of the company. Smaller companies fall victim to being managed by people who may not necessarily have an innate skillset for things in and around the world of marketing.
More than ever, it really does matter whether you’re providing quality products and quality customer service. People feel empowered by being able to speak honestly about a product or service, and they like it. If your printer sucks, word will get around. Boasting about its great features won’t do much, because people know your job is to make your printer look good. But offering to fix the problem, or engaging the consumer on possible improvements, works. The problem again is that most companies don’t have an organizational structure or mandate which allows this to happen.
The section Should You Build Your Own Social Network? cover what I think is the biggest symptom of a company’s disconnect with what to do with social networking. In an attempt to maintain some sort of control and not wanting to play with others, some companies try to start their own social network. And waste a ton of time and money.
Overall, the book provides good advice to its target audience, but I’m still skeptical about whether it can be used by its target audience.
And I’m glad they follow their own advice. The Friends reference had me sold.
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