Reputation Management and Social Media
What is your corporate social media policy?
Remember, reputation is key to corporate valuation. How is social media affecting your corporate reputation….and ultimately, your brand value?
Sadly, most corporations do not pay attention to social media until it negatively impacts them. But it is 2007, and Gartner predicts that blogging and community contributors will peak during the first half of this year. (In December, I predicted the same. Time will tell…)
If you DO NOT have a Social Media policy in place, how do you intend to ethically and effectively engage with the co-creators of your brand? After all, your company does NOT own your brand.
Not completely.
So who defines your brand?
In 2007, your customers and your prospects actively participate in your brand. They help define it. And they use a variety of social media: YouTube, SlideShare, MySpace, Friendster, FaceBook, Digg, Blogs, etc… to collaborate on your brand, reputation, and image. What do these sites look like? What are their demographics? And how does social media impact your brand?
Given the popularity of social media, your brand’s co-creators are amplifying their input into your reputation. How do you intend to ethically engage your brand fans….and handle brand detractors?
How well do you foster online conversations with your brand co-creators? Do you create a forum for customers to co-innovate and share feedback? Or does your company use an iron fist to try to control the conversation?
If there is an amplified negative comment, how well do you embrace criticism in social media outlets? Will you learn how to effectively answer online objections…or will you be defensive and belittling to your potential customers? In 2006, we often saw that corporate responses to negative comments were perceived as more negative than what was actually said in the first place!
Are you keeping an eye on what people are saying about your company? You should know that online conversations are taking place about your organization. And they’re getting louder every day. Be aware of what bloggers are saying about you. After all, main stream media reporters read blogs, you know. Wouldn’t it be better to address a molehill before it becomes a mountain? (And even if main stream media did not read blogs….know that the bloggers themselves wield enormous power.)
It’s 2007. Form a social media policy, pronto…before it’s too late!
- Understand the potential impact of social media on your brand.
- Address how you are going to ethically and effectively engage fans and detractors.
- Learn from last year’s mistakes: avoid common corporate pitfalls.
(If you need help, give me a jingle…I take the “coach approach” to forming corporate policy.)
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