Teaching PR Consultants to Care

posted on August 28th, 2009


Hey friends!

I’d like to request your knowledge for a meeting I have on Sunday/Monday.

I know pretty much anything and everything about new/social media, and I’ve been helping a couple of companies become more involved in these communities to engage with customers.
I do find it frustrating to teach to old media minds, but I’m patient and they eventually get the hang of it.

I’m asking your help in something that I think I might find a little tough. I’m meeting with a friend that works for a PR consulting company. She’s good at what she does and gets to travel internationally to make clients comfortable on their tours, etc.

I recently had a conversation with her which resulted in her stating she feels the Internet [and new/social media] doesn’t have a place in businesses because the business can’t control their message.

I.e., If someone writes a negative review [on a blog, Amazon, etc] about a company’s product or service, then that makes the company look bad, and PR people don’t like that.

Obviously I know that companies involved in social media rectify issues like this by responding (possibly writing a comment on the blog post, or writing a public response on their company blog) well to it.

I suppose I’m looking to prove my friend wrong, but I’m not saying it should be all about new/social media; just that customers now expect a good experience, and getting personal attention (caring) via Twitter, Facebook, blogs, etc makes customers feel good.

What’s your top 5-10 tips for me? (Links to short videos/articles preferred.)

Short URL: http://djsteen.com/wp/p/317

You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  • I know I am late to leave a comment for you here. But I would just like to say that transparency is what makes today's market so different from what it was. This is a whole new level that we are on now and it is in most part because of social media.
  • Morrie
    Derek, tell her about podcast like Six Pixels of Separation, Marketing Over Coffee, Managing the Grey etc, the book Trust Agents, etc. Ask her why some newspapers are giving away the printed newsheet model which was previously sacrosanct, to embrace online websites etc. Best of luck with your quest.
  • Hi Derek...great post. IN regards to customers posting bad reveiws about your company I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing. Social media has really put the power back into consumers hands. Allowing some bad publicity is fine and if you show how well you can deal with it that is very valuable.
    I think if your friend's company wants to hit the social media arena they need to be entirely transparent and not care about bad reviews or complaints on twitter/facebook. It seems as they they are looking at it from the wrong angle. Maybe you should just suggest to them to look it as a way to connect with people and engage with potential clients rather than to sell directly.
  • Well said, Alaister! Transparency is a fundamental key in any business these days; if a company is hiding something, we'll find out.
  • xxPOGOxx
    The best way to curtail negative feedback is to make a superior product. The upcoming, tech-savvy generation of consumers prefer getting their information about products online rather than some shopping catalog or what have you BECAUSE OF the negative feedback. It's not that we're looking for everything that can possibly be wrong with a product, it's simply a matter of wanting to know what we're buying before we buy it.

    Most simply put, the upcoming generation prefers an honest look at what they're buying. If the company is offering one of the best products on the market, in terms of both quality and value, then the honest review by blogs, Amazon, consumers, et cetera, will reflect that.
  • Thanks, Nick! Muchos helpful!
blog comments powered by Disqus