Verizon Communication has seen the blogging light.
Speaking on a panel on engaging the in-control consumer at the MIXX Conference in New York, Jerri DeVard, senior vice president of marketing and brand management for Verizon said they had been ‘asleep at the wheel a bit’ and that they’ll be playing catch-up in the fields of online and social networking. They plan to launch a blog that will be a no-holds barred “all issues on the table” dialogue with consumers–and support it with a round-the-clock response team.
Sounds like they have the right idea, and one other corporations could implement.
“We would rather do business with a company that openly communicates and that provides the service or product that we are paying for. And we would rather not do business with companies that don’t; and companies that don’t do either one, eventually will not have customers, profits and finally a business at all,” writes Marianne Richmond in her Resonance Partnership blog post called Sprint, can you hear me now?
She goes on to say, “A few weeks ago Josh Hallet at Hyku wrote a post with the title Corporations Visiting Blogs, But Not Commenting=Prank Calling? Allan Jenkins, David Parmet and I left comments agreeing with his premise that corporations were obviously monitoring blogs for information but not taking the extra few minutes it would take to leave a comment…not even a “form” comment that could say, “We heard you, please call 1-800-IDO-CARE to discuss.” And then have that as a “working” number.”
Monitoring blogs is a vital PR activity, but unless you respond and enter the conversation, you’ve missed the point of social media and the in-control customer landscape we’re operating in.
Great article Sally. I have walked into a client meeting and asked them bluntly “What did the blogospshere say about your company today?” I always get that deer in the headlights look. Blog Mining is becoming a very sought after function in some companies. Now if they would just say hello and get into the game with comments now and then!
Comment by Jim Turner — September 26, 2006 @ 4:58 pm
Sally, Thanks for the mention. You are so right about companies missing the point of social media by monitoring but not participating. I mentioned Charter, First Bank and Sprint in the post and all 3 have appeared in my site meter. None left comments.
Yesterday, I received a Hallmark card with a lasered addressed envelope with a presort stamp from “my friends at Charter” and a coupon for a free “on demand” movie telling me that they were sorry for my service problems and to call if I had any more.
Well, its more than I have heard from Sprint or First Bank and actually my Charter problems are corrected, at least for the moment.
Comment by Marianne Richmond — September 26, 2006 @ 8:18 pm