Finally! A terrific Business Week highlighted a potentially devastating problem in one of its recent articles, dubbed Feeling Trashed on the Web? recently, and I just had to comment on it.


The article's points, and its examples, can be summed up by this sentence at the end of the first paragraph: "Smart companies realize their customers, whose voices now have widely distributed forums for complaints or praise, have the potential to become either brand partners–or brand message hijackers."
In other words: given the plethora of bloggers and social media sites, companies can craft their brand messages and promotions and send them out on their own, and hope for the best. Of course, that means one of two things: acceptance of the brand and its messaging, or a rejection of it based on scathing reviews that take on a life of their own; changing the direction and message of the brand. In short: brand hijack.
Or: companies can engage their customers in ongoing dialogue to ensure their messages get through–a scary proposition since that necessarily entails giving up a certain amount of control over the brand. While this concept may seem scary at first to a company, consider the downside. As the article succinctly states: ". . .cultivate conversations with them (consumers) or risk getting slammed."
Lest this all sounds like blackmail, let me bring out the main points the article makes about meaningful engagement with the consumer:
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Be honest and authentic. That's something many Daily Fix contributors regularly expound on. Sincerity and honesty rule. Authentic brands, like cream, rise to the top.
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Find and court existing communities. Matching brands and their assets, to the right user communities, the ones that share common interests and values with the brands in question, may be hard work. . .but getting this right can yield huge rewards for those brands. Taking this step can solidify a brand's position with a core constituency, and it can woo new consumers, converting them to the brand and making them advocates.
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Listen to consumers and build partnerships. Open-minded companies can get a lot of good information from the consumer, if they listen and take well-intended comments and observations to heart. Fixing potential product problems early on, addressing customer service issues–these are ongoing company mandates. Sometimes we think we know where a problem lies, but the consumer can pin-point it, and even offer solid suggestions for the fix. How valuable is that?
Engaging consumers can lead to many positives, as we all know. Intact brand images and messaging. Increased sales. Better service. Yes, yes and yes. But how about this one? Consumers as grassroots brand ambassadors, as Mack Collier always likes to say.
How many more legs can you add–gratis–to your marketing department's efforts, simply by engaging consumers?