Web 2.0 and the Rise of Multiple Voices
The Amplifying of Bad Press
Your customers are now complaining not just to the small circle of people they know. With the growth of social media such as online communities and blogs, everyone can speak to a larger audience.
A potential customer sitting in a remote village in Scotland may read a popular American blogger’s rant about the poor quality of service with a website hosting service and change his mind about it. If you’re not scared yet, you should be!
Why is Bad News so Attractive?
On the web, bad news is likely to get picked up more easily and circulated more widely than ever before. Partly, this is because people have become more cynical of marketers and corporations, and tend to believe bad news more easily.
This is also because with blogs and communities, everyone has a platform. Everyone feels a little more powerful than they did when they just received print and television news! With this power, they know that they can quickly force marketers to acknowledge errors and make changes.
Countering Negativity among your Customers
Today, no business can completely avoid bad press. However, you can minimize the chances of your customers getting so annoyed with you.
What this means is that complaint gathering and handling is too important an activity to be done in an ad-hoc, unstructured manner. It is a serious affair with the potential to win you lifetime customers of great value and deserves to be treated accordingly. Look for complaints before the complainers shout from the roof-tops!
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