This is post #4 of 4 inspired by Chris Brogan.
The cluetrain is chugging into the station. Smart companies are embracing empowered end-users.
Intuit is crowdsourcing customer support. And Procter & Gamble has officially moved away from focusing on internal “Research & Development.”
“P&G's effort … (represents) a seismic shift in strategy, moving the consumer products goods company away from an ‘only invented here’ mentality to an outside-in approach that actively seeks to import good ideas.”
Those are great examples from Customer Support and R&D. What about Marketing?
Perhaps because Marketing is too-often considered a cost center — always in “prove-it” mode — its adherents have historically focused on control. Control provides a sense of safety. But it’s a false security.
Even before Social Media’s rise, a corporate behemoth could quickly lose all semblence of message control. Remember the Tylenol Poisonings? The Ford/Firestone Rollovers? Any one of the PR chiefs at those companies would have swept the news under the rug, if they could. They couldn’t then — and as we learned via the Motrin Moms flap — it will only get harder in the Social Web era.
So let’s embrace it. Here are some ideas on relinquishing control.
Having a crisis? If you don’t already have a corporate blog, create one immediately and hold forth on what’s going on. But take it a step further: enable comments, and encourage both customers and employees to comment publicly. You can also ask employees to leave their ideas and concerns on an in-house wiki throughout the crisis. Make the commitment to have a C-suite executive review and comment on a regular basis. You never know where a good idea — or unforseen threat — might come from.
Holding an event? Randomly select a dozen attendees and arm them with Flipcams and cheap digital cameras (put an irremovable barcode on each device, so you know who’s packing each piece of equipment). Ask these multimedia-powered attendees to take videos & pictures from their own perspective: ask their colleagues on the floor what’s good or not-so-good about the event; tape a speech or a booth demo; etc. Maybe turn it into a fun (optional) scavenger hunt.
When the event is over, tag and post the media assets to both corporate websites and to other Social Media channels (e.g., pics on Flickr and TwitPic).
Feeling ballsy? Let everyone in the company blog and tweet, with full disclosure as to their place of employment, their role, etc. Obviously, these activities must not detract from their office productivity, and obviously you’d want to publish and educate the staff on some basic “rules of engagement.”
But if you can get past those bugbears, try to imagine the consequences of such a ballsy move. Your entire company just became your PR department.
Out of ideas? Ask Chris Brogan for some.
OK, that’s a cop-out. Instead of asking Brogan, try asking your customers. Don’t be afraid of them; they might like you; they might want to be helpful.
“What other services can we provide? What do you like least about our products? Knowing what you know now, how much more — or less! — would you have paid?” This concept is bearing fruit for Dell, Starbucks, and even Barack Obama.
Remember that everyone wears an invisible sign that reads, “Make me feel important.” When you acknowledge that message, your employees, customers and prospects will rise to the challenge.
It’s okay to relinquish control when your brand is in their good hands.