I've written here frequently about the changing nature of communications, as a result of social media and about the need to rethink the way businesses interact with their customers. It's about transparency, and it's about communications as conversation rather than proclamation.
All well and good. But what happens when a company goes ahead and implements a social media plan, initiates that conversation - but then discovers that it's getting something completely different from its commenters than had been anticpated? That's the question raised in a very thought-provoking article by Alexandra Samuel on the Harvard Business Publishing blog: "Riding Social Media's Trojan Horse."
Trojan horse? She explains:
But get a few weeks into your first blog, Facebook presence, or customer community, and you discover just what's inside the pretty wooden horse. When you stop talking at your customers, and start talking with them, you may not like everything you hear. You may get service complaints you don't know how to address. You may get suggestions for product improvements you're not ready to implement. You may get advocacy groups pressing you for public statements on issues you're now handling behind closed doors.
Samuel cites the cases of several companies which have gone ahead and opened a dialogue - often as more of a marketing tool than a true two-way communications medium - and about what happened to them. Too often, they wound up having to retire from the social media playing field.
I would argue, as do some of the people who have left comments on that blog post, that it is because the companies went in with the wrong attitude. They weren't really looking for a dialogue. They thought they could control the conversation. It doesn't always work that way. And Samuel's conclusion makes very good sense:
Whether you invited it in or not, the Trojan Horse is here. Embrace it, evolve and succeed. Or push it back out and watch the customers pour through your competitors' gates instead.
Hat tip: @arnteriksen, via Twitter
Comments