IMAGINE you are the head of your company’s corporate communication division, and you are faced with this situation—a dissatisfied client (who, unfortunately, you found out just now), happens to be a well-followed blogger, writes a mocking post about your product or service based on a recent encounter.
Before you know it, bloggers from around the country, and unsurprisingly, around the world, are connecting to the post and adding their own take on the issue. Maybe your company or your own person even becomes fodder for podcast babble and irreverent or hurtful podcast uploaded in popular sites like the YouTube.
Of course, your wish is to get wind of such Web-based coverage before it hits the pages of the major broadsheets, magazines and tabloids. Well, you hope so. But the speed by which people can get connected can truly dampen this hope.
A barrage of negative blogs can damage your corporate reputation, your market-share price and your bond with stakeholders. A clear illustration of such damage can be learned from what is now the classic tale of Dell Computer and Jeff Jarvis—a Dell client—who wrote a piece in his blog grumbling about his Dell machine. His post sparked a discussion, and soon a horde of angry, dejected customers joined Jarvis in a cacophony of complaints. This event became known as “Dell Hell” and is celebrated in the so-called blogosphere.
“Bloggers and Internet pundits are exerting a ‘disproportionately large influence’ on society. Although ‘active’ Web users make up only a small proportion of Europe’s online population, they are increasingly dominating public conversations and creating business trends,” The Guardian said.
Carol Darr, the director of the Institute for Politics, Democracy and the Internet at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., was quoted in the TV newsmagazine CBS Sunday Morning in July 2007, saying that: “Most of the people who read blogs are highly educated and earn high income. They tend to be trendsetters. So they are influential far out of proportion to what their numbers are.” For sure, if a research is done among Filipino bloggers and Filipinos who read blogs, you may be able to discover a number of parallels with American or European counterparts.
Case stories on bloggers and “blogreads”—people who read and track blogs—will tell you that they have consistently demonstrated their vast powers. They have negatively influenced large, internationally known companies and brands. Of course, smaller firms could suffer even more from the onslaught, and make them go out of business. Indeed, the blogging phenomenon has made the corporate communicator’s job even more expanded and challenging.
Never underestimate the power of blogs, says blogger and podcaster Donna Papacosta of Canada. Web logs, she adds, are no longer the domains of pajama-wearing folks who write screeds about what they ate for lunch. Bloggers are now creating news that might have a direct impact on your organization’s reputation and they leave an online trail of archives that never goes away—thanks to the magic of Web caches. Increasingly, blog posts are being picked up in mainstream media or are at least influencing the context of reporting.
Most definitely, the majority of negative posts will not precipitate a cloud of restless, loudly complaining souls. Generally, a potentially harmful post won’t gain traction unless it’s a reasonable complaint from a credible source—like a respected blogger—and is based on an issue experienced by a number of people, not just a lone voice or an isolated case.
Given the rapidly increasing weight of blogging, corporate communicators are urged to ask two critical questions. One, how can you possibly know what bloggers are saying about your organization? And two, what should you do if your organization’s name is being dragged through the mud? Papacosta offers some basic courses of actions.
- Setup an in-house blog monitoring system. Your existing PR people should include blogs in its media-monitoring deliverables—talk about more work for Filipino corporate communicators. They can be tasked to track blog posts about your company and its key leaders. And maybe as you consider doing this added function; your technologically savvy competitors are probably already monitoring your organization.
- Subscribe to industry blogs. That is, if there are any available. This will allow you to be aware of trends that affect your company. Also identifying and building relationships with relevant bloggers should be considered. This is a smart move, as it makes you part of a greater community and be plugged into its issues. This could be your version of online media nurturing.
- Keep an eye on employee bloggers. If your employees are blogging about the company, either in blogs sanctioned by the organization or personal sites on their own time, you need to monitor what they’re saying. Make sure they are aware of the corporate policy on blogging. If there is none, write. After all, if any of your associates makes unrealistic claims about your products or bashes the competition, your reputation will suffer.
- Be wise in your responses. Don’t respond to every negative word uttered about your organization. Choose your battles and always use your judgment. If the blogger seems like a nut, ignore him or her for now, but monitor others’ links to his or her post. Sometimes, it’s best to issue a news release to address the problem. Apple Computer did this when bloggers ranted about scratches on the screens of their iPod Nanos. If your company has a blog, you could discuss the issue there. Of course, if someone is making libelous statements, it may be time to call the lawyers.
- Apologize if you need to. Let’s assume your company is under fire for mistreating someone who called your customer-service line. If you honestly investigate the complaint, acknowledge the error of your ways and apologize if indeed the caller had been handled badly. You would make the customer feel better, and you’d probably satisfy the blogosphere, too.
Bloggers use their online presence for good, not mischief, underscores Papacosta. It is advisable to take the time to cultivate relationships with bloggers in your industry now before trouble appears. You’ll gain much more than a bit of insurance. You’ll also be connected to what’s happening in your industry and you may truly enhance your corporate reputation by contributing to conversations on the blogs and being seen as a thoughtful expert yourself.
Bloggers are here to stay. Armed with tremendous power, they can either boost your ego and push your reputation to a higher level or bring it down to the pavement. They cannot be ignored. If you are trying to reach wired customers, you can plan and execute a “cyberspace or blogger relations” program and reach those influential A-list people who sway the thinking of a substantial number of people in targeted web communities.
PR Matters is a roundtable column by members of the local chapter of the UK-based International Public Relations Association, the world’s premier organization for PR professionals around the world. Bong Osorio is the communications consultant and spokeman of ABS-CBN Corp.
We are devoting a special column each month to answer our readers’ questions about public relations. Send your questions or comments to askipraphil@gmail.coma