Anytime I spoke about the Internet to a business group in the late 1990s, I would start the discussion with a string of questions. “How many people consider themselves ‘Internet savvy?” A few hands would go up. “How many people have little or no online experience?” More hands would go up. “How many people wish the Internet would go away?” Invariably, almost all the hands in the room would go up amidst some nervous laughter.
Fast forward to 2010. Just as many business owners had hoped against hope that the Internet would go away, more often than not lately I hear exasperated business people express concern about “wasting their time” with the relative new kids on the block: Facebook, Linked In, Twitter, YouTube and the like.
Social Media is not a waste of time. Granted, most of us could live our lives quite happily without knowing that the lady down the block found a shower curtain to match the tile pattern in her bathroom. But when that same lady has a bad shopping experience at a home improvement store, or perhaps with a home improvement contractor, and decides to share that unpleasantness with the world, business owners should take notice.
Therein lies the difference between Social Media and its information predecessors. Previously, when a company wanted to inform the public of a new product or service the communications outlets used – newspapers, radio, television and, to a certain extent, the early incarnations of the Internet – were a one-way street. Content was disseminated by a few to many. The public had few options for providing immediate feedback. In addition, if a customer had a bad experience shopping at a store, he or she could call the store manager or perhaps write a letter and the matter would stay between the customer, the store and maybe the customer’s friends or family members.
Now, with the onset of Facebook and Twitter and whatever else hits the Social Media scene in the time it takes you to finish this article, the same dissatisfied customer can share his or her disdain with thousands if not millions of potential customers just by pushing a few buttons. Take the well-documented case of the singer Dave Carroll. Seems he and his band “Sons of Maxwell” had a gig in Nebraska and they booked a United Airlines flight from Chicago. The band members sitting on the plane could see the baggage handlers tossing their guitars around and, once they landed in Nebraska, found Carroll’s guitar neck broken. After a year of getting nowhere with the airline, Carroll posted a song on YouTube.com about the incident that, as of this writing, has been viewed more than 9 million times. It does not portray United in a flattering light.
No doubt the folks at United thought the problem would go away. This strategy brings to mind a story related to me by a friend who attended a logistics conference in Moscow in the mid-1990s. A community leader gave a speech that was critical of the Russian Army’s operations. At the end of the speech one of the Russian generals leaned over to my colleague and said, “Things were a lot easier when we could just have these people shot.”
While even in the good old days you couldn’t shoot the customers, today’s customer is not going to take poor customer service with mute stoicism any more, either. Businesses must keep in mind that at the point customers go online with problems is not the time a business should be starting to learn the ins and outs of Social Media. Savvy businesses are already exploring the various ways they can take advantage of these cost effective and empowering communications outlets. In doing so they’re cementing relationships with existing customers while introducing themselves to thousands if not millions of previously unreachable potential customers. They’re doing this because they know Social Media is not going away: the companies who ignore it are.
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Michael Watt is President of Long Island Inc., a consulting firm that enhances a small business’ ability to navigate and leverage Long Island’s myriad economic development resource channels. He is a published author, having written for Newsday, the Long Island Business News, Long Island Magazine and LongIsland.com.
This article was originally published in Long Island Business News.
