One of my first experiences with the internet was reading the Drudge Report. The fact that a Website could break news before the big networks (ABC, CBS & NBC) really caught my attention. Fast forward a decade and social media has turned every subscriber or member into a potential Drudge Report. Anyone can pick up a tidbit of note worthy information and in an instant transmit it to hundreds of people. That’s great for anyone that has a story they want to tell, but what about the stories you’d prefer to keep to yourself?

My wife and I recently welcomed our first child into the world. We agreed that we would not use social media to announce her birth. Instead we wanted to keep the news to our selves and share it with our friends and family as we saw fit. We’d get photo’s to our parents by email or maybe set up a private site for an online album. There would be no Tweets, status updates or mass announcements.

Our daughter was born in the afternoon and by that evening the news was all over the social sphere. Her name, and photo’s were on Facebook and my email and voicemail was full of well wishes and requests for photo’s and Skype sessions.

Andy Warhol said, “In the future, everyone will be famous for 15 minutes.” How is it that despite my best efforts to stymie my daughters rise to internet notoriety she still got her 15 and then some?

In his book “Good to Great”, Jim Collins asserts that in business, technology is only an accelerator. If a firm’s core values and process are strong, the technology will help accelerate growth. If the same variables are weak, technology won’t fix a thing.

I think the same idea can be applied to social media. Before there was MySpace, social groups developed around coffee makers and water coolers. Informal organizations of people created their own rules and communication norms and there were very clear member versus non-member distinctions.

Social media such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn wrap technology around these informal organizations of people and allow members to transmit news, information and scuttlebutt at the speed of the internet.

It was naive to for me to think that I could control the flow of information about my child’s birth by not announcing it myself on Facebook. That kind of thinking is as futile as trying to stop the spread of good gossip by simply avoiding the water cooler.

It only took one person posting an update about my child’s arrival to start a chain reaction. Each new post made the information available to a wider interlocking network of friends and family. There was no way to control it and no way to stop it.

The birth of a child is good news and we all need more of that and less news about oil spills, Wall street’s shenanigans and Dancing with the Stars. It’s not a big deal that my daughter’s arrival was televised. But what about an unhappy customer? What kind of damage could be done with a few Tweets to a large enough audience? You can’t just avoid the water cooler.

So what do you do about it? I recommend four steps, the “four Be’s”

1. Be the Best – first, to avoid social networking crises; strive to make yourself and your business the best you possibly can. Pay attention to customers and do your best to meet their needs.
   
2. Be Involved – we know our business cannot be perfect and there will be times when customers find themselves unhappy. Some unhappy customers may never say anything to your firm, but they may spread their frustration with you through outlets such as social media. Thus, this point is to pay attention to social media. Use available utilities such as Cotweet to search social networks for information about your company and your customers.
3. Be Reactive – simply put: when social media presents something about your company, whether good or bad, do what you can to either encourage or amend the situation. Contact an unhappy customer or send a thank you note to a happy customer. Utilize these items to your advantage as you add value to your business.
4. Be Selective – use social media to post information about your business: blogs, seminars, updates, event, etc. However, be selective in what you give out to social media. People are easily annoyed by the person or firm who posts any and every little detail that comes to mind. Keep in touch, but make fewer posts with more pertinent information. 

Social media is a daunting tool that can be terribly detrimental or extremely useful to your business. Examine and define your approach to social media carefully.

 

Jason Clause / Endsight