It hurts doesn’t it?! No-one said being dumped was easy, just ask my ex-boyfriend. In fact, what could be worse than the direct, unfiltered, brutally honest nature of an online punch in the gut? Well, a lot of things possibly, but that’s not the point. What surprises me today, is just how defensive companies are about “free” feedback. Let me tell you something from personal experience: I don’t always ask Marc (the owner of this blog and my much esteemed boss) for feedback, but that doesn’t stop him from dishing it out anyway. Which, is exactly what I’m about to do – so here goes, a few direct words for technology and telecoms advertisers!

Does anyone remember Dell Hell? The episode where technology pundit Jeff Jarvis and a load of angry customers told the company exactly what they thought of its products and services. Jeff had originally vented his anger on his Buzz Machine blog and you can read his entries here. This is simply a brilliant example of how blogs can influence corporate behavior, what’s so bad about that? At least Dell had the opportunity to respond, engage and put things right!
The reality for anyone operating in the technology and telecoms sector is this: YOUR PRIORITY CUSTOMERS ARE ONLINE. These innovators and early adopters are the very people blogging about your brand, be it good or bad. So in an era where window shopping takes place online, a much better strategy is to embrace forums of online debate rather than rebuff them. Crucially, whilst customers can read what you have to say about your brand in far greater detail on your website, they can also see how this tallies with the opinions of others, including of course, previous buyers.
Want to know if your customers love you, hate you or couldn’t care less? Why not start by searching for your brand on Technorati? I promise, what you learn will be gold dust. Equally, I passionately suggest talking to your consumers and blogging yourselves if you are not already. This is certainly an approach we have adopted at Microsoft with Channel9 which our CEO Steve Ballmer has described as: “a great way to communicate with our customers, and for them more importantly to communicate with us. It just touches people more”. The Channel 9 doctrine goes as follows:

1. Channel 9 is all about the conversation
2. Be a human being.
3. Learn by listening.
4. Be smart.
5. Marketing has no place on Channel 9.
6. Don’t shock the system.
7. Know when to turn the mic off.
8. Don’t be a jerk.
9. Commit to the conversation.

If it were up to me I would add one more – and so at number 10: don’t blog when you’re drunk, down or angry. Incidentally, the same applies to e-mailing your boss ;-)

Today, I'm back because I want to have conversations again, thanks to Geert who boosted me last week and also because I have something to tell you: Starwood hotels have a very poor customer service!

I went to Egypt in march in a nice Sheraton hotel (El Gouna), they proposed me the "Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) Program" and I accepted it. I'm travelling to Atlanta next month and I will stay at the Sheraton. I received my SPG card last week... and I realized they made a mistake in my first name: instead of Philippe Deltenre, they refer to me as Jean Deltenre (the adress and other details are correct). I went to www.spg.com and found a customer service adress.

I wrote the following mail:

"SPG Number:******9082
Subject: General Comment
Dear,
I received my SPG card a few days ago. The first name mentionned on my card is not correct (JEAN instead of PHILIPPE). How can I proceed in order to have a card with my correct details? Thanks
First Name: Philippe
Last Name: Deltenre
Membership Level: A"

Here's the reply I received one day later:

"Dear Jean Deltenre,
 
Thank you for your recent email concerning your Starwood Preferred Guest account. I welcome this opportunity to assist you.
We always want to be sure that you're pleased with our service so we've included a link to a brief survey at the end of this email. I would very much appreciate it if you could take a minute or two to let us know how we're doing.
 
We would be pleased to change the name on your account as requested. However, for security reasons we require legal documentation that shows both the former and current names. Please note that a driver's license is not sufficient verification for a legal name change.
Please send a copy of your marriage certificate or certificate of name change to:
Email: research@starwoodhotels.com"

Errr, this looks like a bad start in our relation. They probably assumed I underwent a gender change or married another man (not that there is something wrong with that)... I save the next episode for tomorrow but I can tell you already that it looks like the fist minutes of the movie BRAZIL

Name-dropping in history

Sticking just to music, bands that existed before or just when the internet came into existence did name-drop brands. From LFO (Abercrombie & Fitch), Barenaked Ladies (Snickers), Run DMC (Adidas) and recently, Melee (JetBlue). (Here's a good list of brand names appearing in songs)

Though product placement is gaining popularity now, it certainly wasn't in the early '90s, though Abercrombie & Fitch enjoyed some market growth and Run DMC was eventually approached to be Adidas's spokesperson.

Prior to the internet, unless you were one of those bands or maybe Oprah, what you thought about a brand would not grow larger than conversation at the bar.

What's Changed: The Ants Have Megaphones

Borrowing the phrase from Chris Anderson's book, The Long Tail (brilliant book), the ants have megaphones. The democratisation of media means that anyone can be a critic, a brand advocate, or a "journalist". Because of that, your brand isn't what you say it is. It's what Google says it is. Given the long tail of bloggers, reviews, youtube videos and the like, a search for your brand could turn up negative reference (Dell Hell anyone?)

I don't think marketers ever had control. But now they have to sit up and deal with the fact that many "ants" collectively can affect a brand (for better or worse), and we're not as easy to deal with compared to offering a spokesperson contract to Run DMC. We want honest and open company dealings and we will take companies to task for failing to do so.

In short: our conversations are not restricted to bar talk anymore, and it would be folly for a company to ignore it.

Positive or negative brand experiences with social media? Let's hear it! (Don't worry, I don't think you're ants!)

Yes, I know they are on top of the world, but there are voices from the blogosphere that point to cracks in the MacBrand base; early adopters and super fans feel left out. As Apple becomes more of a consumer brand, more mainstream users will purchase Macs. This means more complaints, stretching the ardent fans--and customer service--thin; no longer will every negative Apple post be bombarded with super users flaming the blogger. To address this, Apple will need to stop pushing products and messages at its community. Instead, they will need to become more engaged with their community.

Steve, are you listening? Here are some of my top tips for Apple on refreshing their Social Media efforts to revive the Fan Base:

• Stop trying to silence your superfans!
  • Whether suing super-fan bloggers or threatening children, Apple has a horrible strategy towards online communities. Lighten up! Repeated actions like these will really put off you most passionate audiences.
• Beautiful Ads and Demos, set them free!
  • Sharing is Caring. Let the videos into the wild by allowing them to be embedded into other sites and shared. Just by sending a link back to the page is tres 1.0. Do this with Steve's keynote, too.
• MacBook Air: Behind the Scenes
  • For movie buffs, the "Extra Features" on a DVD are one more reason to buy. Same goes for tech geeks. Show us the behind the scenes of the MacBook Air. Intimate video chats with the Hardware Design team. Live podcasts (with call-in) featuring the User Experience team.
  • Too hardcore? Ok, open up developers' blogs!
• Like a shepherd herding the flock...
  • A Community Manager could address the worries early adopters are having re the MacBook Air. They can also hit up the Green bloggers upset about Apple's lack of true environmental concern, or just common users P.O.-ed about Leopard's constant crashes. Go and address those posts head on. Cut the messaging and speak to them like people.
• Open up a dialog
  • Apple currently has a web-based form for feedback, but it feels like you are sending it out into a void. Make it a community, like Dell, where users can submit suggestions/concerns and then vote on the ideas. Yes, there is a forum, but it relies heavily on super fans...and forums are SOOOOO 1.0.
  • Customers also need to know that they are taken seriously. Close the feedback loop. Let them know the status of their suggestions.
• I'm Streaming of a Live MacWorld
  • Ok, it may be a little far fetched, but I want a cam to be following someone through the MacWorld experience, like a fly on the wall. Bonus points if that fly is STEVE JOBS!

I love all my Apple products, but I've been a little upset since upgrading Leopard. No longer can I play music on Front Row through my Airport Express. I filled out a comment form and have not received any sort of follow-up. I've dropped so much money on my desktop, laptop, keyboard, Airport, Airport Express, and I deserve some sort of acknowledgment.

What do you think? Is Apple heading towards Dell Hell or are they on the right track? What suggestions would you give Apple on reinvigorating their fan base?

:: :: :: :: ::

Recommended Reading

• “Apple’s Social Media Efforts Need to Ripen”
• "Dell Hell Freezes Over: A Great Example of Turning Lemons into Lemonade"
• "3sday's 3Q's in 3 Min: Mario Sundar, LinkedIn"
• "PR to Enterprise: Beam Me Up"

Don't miss out: Add us to your RSS reader, or sign up for our email.

Last Friday and Saturday, Robert Scoble wrote two posts that remind me (and others) of Jeff Jarvis' Dell Hell rants. When Scoble installed last weeks updates, his computer got stuck in reboot. Here's what he has to say:

So I restart. And get the same message. I do it five times just to make sure.

And so, now I’m back on my Windows machine.

Screw you Apple and your ads saying you’re better than Microsoft. Screw you. Screw you. Screw you.

His second post discusses the brand promise that Apple makes through advertising and how he sees it flawed. You can read his full list of grievances in the post. While I don't necessarily agree with everything he writes, I agree that Apple will need to change soon if it wants to keep up in the Post-Dell Hell era.

In its current state, Apple has a strong community of devoted users. Do an online search and you'll find plenty of mac forums and mac blogs. There's even a fake Steve Jobs blog. The company itself is surprisingly lacking in engagement with this community. In fact, it has actively sued bloggers in the past. In the last few weeks, Apple has even sent a cease and desist letter to a nine year old.

As Apple computers (not just iPods) are purchased by more mainstream consumers, Apple will find itself slowly being pushed into the conversation. Andy Beal at Marketing Pilgrim sees two situations that will force this change:

1. It will reach customers that aren’t capable of tinkering and tweaking with their own stuff. Even Scoble didn’t know he could fix his computer by a "start in Safe Boot (press and hold the Shift key at the startup chime)? Starting in Safe Boot forces a directory check, so will verify if there is a problem with your startup disk."
2. The Apple evangelists–the ones that have always come to Apple’s defense–will be stretched too thin. They simply can’t jump in to every conversation and defend every forum comment and blog complaint.

So what can Apple do to increase it's social media marketing and PR efforts:

1. Create a Community Evangelist position to monitor the Apple dialog on Blogs for negative conversation threads and comment as a human. This helps consumers feel like they are being listened to, while simultaneously allowing Apple to more-or-less steer the conversation.
2. Be honest. So I said they could steer the conversation...within reason. The users will be able to smell PR spin, so don't try to incorporate too much messaging. If there is a problem, acknowledge it. Right now the Leopard install has caused crazy bugs that people are talking about in forums. Mac continues to deny it. I'm getting PO-d.
3. Create a blog. Steve Rubel said it in 2004. Apple is the only large tech company to not have one. I understand corporate secrecy in product development, but come on. Dell's is a great example. They talk about OpenWorld, Word of Mouth Marketing, Green issues, geeky consumer tech, servers, etc. They also have videos!
4. Close the feedback loop. Wait, first create a feedback loop! Back to Dell: they have a created the IdeaStorm community to allow users to submit ideas and then other users vote on the ideas. The whole process is tracked with transparency and also shows results at the end. This is key: It lets consumers know they have a voice and that someone is not just listening but also acting as a result.
5. Instead of suing bloggers for leaking things, show videos of products as they are being developed. Transparency and openness. Of course, you need to wait until you are close to release. If others are going to do it, owning it makes Apple cool again.

Oh, and putting out ads that show this:

When this is the reality:

Is really, really bad. It makes Apple look removed from reality, disengaged with the consumer and, frankly, a little arrogant.

What are your suggestions to Apple? Or are they doing ok? I'd love to hear your thoughts. Any Mac Marketing or PR folks wanna speak to socialTNT's readers? Tell us what's up!

Before I get flamed: My whole house is full of Mac equipment from desktops, laptops, network gear, etc.

:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::

Related Posts:

"PR to Enterprise: Beam Me Up"

"Dell Hell Freezes Over: A Great Example of Turning Lemons into Lemonade"

"3sday's 3Q's in 3 Min: Mario Sundar, LinkedIn"

Last week, BuzzMachine's Jeff Jarvis wrote an article in BusinessWeek discussing Dell's reversal from social media nightmare to social media maven. It's been a pretty amazing adventure and, to me, it feels like the last chapter has finally been writtern. Let's take a look at a few of the practices Dell has put into place to turn around its online image.

[For the full "Dell Hell" archives in reverse chronological order, click here.]

It all started on June 21st, 2005, when Jeff published a post entitled "Dell Lies. Dell Sucks." To Jeff's surprise, he amassed hundred of sympathetic comments and thousands(?) of trackbacks. Not necessarily a good form of publicity, but Dell's "look, but don't touch" policy didn't respond to bloggers.

This interview with a Dell spokesperson from 2005 really represents the old notion of one-sided communication that still exists in most big companies today. Houston Chronicle Tech Blogger Dwight Silverman caught the contradiction:

"With our direct model, we feel like we already have a good, two-way communications channel with our customers," Davis said.

Of course, it depends on what you do with the incoming communication. A two-way conversation only has value if you take action on the problems you're hearing about.

Finally, Davis asked an interesting question: Did I know of any companies that do actively go out and respond to blog and forum postings?

In 2005, it was rare. Today, the idea of corporate blogs is not so innovative, but companies still have a hard time with blogger/community relations.

In April of 2006, Dell reached out to disgruntled bloggers in an effort to resolve their issues. In July 2006, Dell launched its Direct2Dell blog. These words from a post in November of 2006 on the Dell blog starkly contrast the above comments:

Every day, we receive reports from a search string in Technorati and other blog search engines, and we meticulously analyze the results. When we find someone who has an unresolved issue with their Dell computer or our services, we reach out to offer assistance.

Ok, great, a corporate blog and customer service people who listen. Where's the innovation? Well, it gets better. Last April, Dell launched the IdeamStorm community.

IdeaStorm allows users to make suggestions and then vote (in a digg like manner) whether to "promote" or "delete" an idea. But this voting isn't hollow. Dell then provides results, closing the loop with consumers by informing them what user-initiated ideas have been executed and what suggested items are forthcoming. One major result of the IdeaStorm community was the decision to package Linux on consumer desktops and laptops. I know of few companies that allow such active consumer input.

The biggest success, to me, was a change in corporate thinking. Look at these words from CEO Michael Dell:

"These conversations are going to occur whether you like it or not, O.K.? Well, do you want to be part of that or not? My argument is you absolutely do. You can learn from that. You can improve your reaction time. And you can be a better company by listening and being involved in that conversation."

Yup, that pretty much sums it up. The conversation is going on without you. People are tired of not having a voice. Now that they have quick and easy tools through which they communicate, they are gonna make their own messages. Isn't it better to be a part of that discussion and perhaps steer it, rather than let it explode into a "Dell Hell"-type wildfire?

Lessons learned:

• Read and Respond
  • Know what is being said and thoughtfully reply in a timely manner, especially to complaints
• Talk to your customers as a real person speaking to other real people
  • It might not hurt to have a full-time blogger-relations person
• Create a forum through which customer’s can provide idea/feedback
  • They are gonna do it somewhere, why not on your site?
• Allow customers to vote on feedback
  • Collaboration and democracy increase loyalty
• Report on results that come from feedback
  • Show them their voice has been heard and that their input is utilized

In the future, Dell plans on creating wikis that users can edit together [not sure if these are more techinical, knowledge-base type wikis or more customer-comments style wikis, both will be interesting to watch]. I'd also love to see a page that aggregates everything that is being said about Dell in the blogosphere. Maybe it could be tagged and then quickly sorted so that customers could see the full-spectrum of the discussion.

What do you guys think? Did Dell pull it off? Do you know of any other companies that user similar collaborative techniques? What could Dell do now to improve/enhance its current social media campaign?

:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::

The anger against the companies involved is growing--the only recourse seems the court. Their offers and communications indicated--according to my commenters anyway--that they are far more concerned about protecting themselves financially in court than protecting their reputation. They probably don't give a darn and maybe are planning for bankruptcy anyway. But this stuff hurts the whole industry as I indicated before.

The most relevant point for crisis communicators is that this story lives on. Months after the event, here I am blogging about it.  People like Mary Ann are using these opportunities to tell their story. Sure, the media is off onto other stories, but their role these days is more to get the conversation started and then move on. It is the conversation that ought to concern companies like Louis Cruise Lines. The online record is created and is built, and there is no involvement in the conversation.

That's why I was so impressed with Dell the other day. I blogged about their Dell Hell problems and immediately got a comment back from a Dell representative that explained how they are dealing with it. Dell gets it. Louis does not.

Some companies get it. The conversation online goes on, and when they are involved they participate. Thank you, Dell. Very impressed.

This story about Bausch & Lomb being sold to a private equity firm helps re-establish my confidence in the idea that reputations do matter. The company had a problem of uncertain origins with their contact solution. The product was recalled but confidence in the company was not maintained during that event. Now, they are selling in part, according to this story to be able to deal with the consequences of their loss of consumer confidence without being under the scrutiny of investors.

And, if you opened up the link above you could not help see the headline and story about "Dell Hell" again. Poor Michael. He could not have realized that his perfectly simple and acceptable last name which seemed to work so well for a corporate giant has now been turned into a nightmare name by the fancy of headline writers--and bloggers. Here's a good question for crisisblogger readers: how does a company like Dell get rid of the "Dell Hell" appellation when it is clearly so popular with headline writers. I mean it rhymes, it doesn't take a lot of space, it grabs immediate attention, it says Oh boy, they are in trouble again. How do you get rid of that? Start a campaign that says "Dell is Well"? "Dell Haters go to Hell"? How about the Dell Smell? Or Dell Farewell?

The simple answer for companies like Dell or BP who have their reputations tarnished, fairly or unfairly, is to go about your business, do the best job you can, get better at operations than ever before and time heals all wounds. Again, Exxon may prove that point.  But something tells me that something a little more striking and dramatic needs to take place in order to overcome the frustrating tendency of reporters (including now citizen journalists) to fall into the old routines and traps and keep the negativity going.

Dell gunt Vlamingen en Nederlanders geen Vista upgrade!

Schande! Discriminatie! Awoert!

(note to self: vind multinational om te bashen - levert lekker veel links op)

The point that jumped out at me from the Market Sentinel white paper which focused on the Dell Hell blogwar, was how much was fed by one person. A blogger by the name of Jeff Jarvis got upset about his laptop and the service and, being one of the angry bloggers, went to town.

Those of us involved in these kinds of blogwars talk about the 57 million citizen journalists, and the numbers are impressive and scary to those concerned about reputation protection. But it only takes one to light a fire. Interesting and worthwhile read.

Looks like there's a lot of finger pointing and very little action being taken.

Let's see it Pioneer, step up and take care of an early adopter. It's a whole less expensive to do it now, just ask Dell.