Blog

Online Customer Engagement and Dialogue: Avoiding the Mistakes of GM and GoDaddy

October 24th, 2011

Strategy

It used to be that the most important question in Marketing was, How do I get the word out? Marketing and communications were unilateral. Corporations would put out the word, measure success, make improvement, and try again. But no longer. Internet engagement, and most particularly social media, requires an evolution in your efforts. To be successful, you must be ready to dialogue, to engage in a give and take where you not only talk but listen, all in real time.

Target’s recent handling of their Missoni launch offers a perfect case study in the dangers of talking without listening. The lead-up to the release was clearly successful but when website problems left customers unsatisfied and frustrated, Target’s response was lackluster. They were prepared to talk but not prepared to listen.

So how does a corporation become an active listener and prepare for dialogue? Here are some first steps to take to become an engaged partner with your customers and reap the benefits of dialogue:

1. Consider the case of the GM Saturn brand: a failure to understand their organization and purpose. Launched with much fanfare in the mid-80’s, the brand was intended to be a culture and image changing effort for GM at a time when GM was unprepared to change. With the Saturn brand they promised to engage their customers in a new way but fundamentally could never follow through on that promise. Lesson learned?  Before openly engaging in a conversation it is imperative to know what you can or cannot change. Know your strengths and limitations before you begin to avoid creating false hopes or expectations.
2. The mutual fund company Vanguard is an example of an organization with a  clearly defined story, purpose, and set of values that still allows for diversity of thought and approach. How do they do it? It starts with the internal structure. They have clearly defined the rules of engagement – what can be said, and by whom. Diversity projects honesty while consistency reinforces trust.  Speaking with one unified voice is critical to the success of all dialogue. If not, there’s a real risk of brand dissolution.
3. Starbuck’s Coffee and Southwest Airlines are two examples of organizations that are very successful in touch intensive industries. Every day, thousands of interactions combine to create their brand. To be successful they empower the edge, imbue their front line employees with the values that make up the soul of their brand. Dialogue requires response and the faster the response, the greater the bonding and trust. We inherently trust those that respond immediately and openly to us. Hesitation is a sign of subterfuge. Ask yourself who in your organization has the ability to respond quickest? The answer is your employees on the edge. To be successful at dialogue, real conversations in real time, empower the edge.
4. Be wary of adopting social media strategies without fully committing to or understanding what it means to be social. In other words, be strategic. That means understanding the intersection of your corporate social presence and the ways your employees talk about you (and, in some cases, themselves) in their digital lives. Look at what happened when the CEO of GoDaddy.com tweeted a video of him killing elephants on a hunt in Africa. Such a failure to understand the nature of social media actually resulted in revenue loss. Avoid making such overt mistakes by openly debating and actively deciding your approach and direction.  Abandoning a well-intentioned dialogue with your customers may cause more damage than choosing to sit on the sidelines.  Consider your direction carefully and choose honestly.
5. As you learn to listen you will discover opportunities but it will take practice. Develop the sixth sense necessary to discover and celebrate these surprising successes. You must be ready to accept serendipity, yet remain vigilant for waste. Changes that come from dialogue may lead to significant benefits or they may also lead to wasteful efforts.  Therefore prepare by fine tuning your internal oversight. Re-examine your enterprise dashboards to make sure that you have access to the important measurements that point to waste or distraction while remaining open to change, to serendipity.

The Internet has given rise to an unprecedented exchange of information. More information is available instantaneously than ever before and your relationship with your customers is consequently ever more tenuous. The best way to maintain loyalty in this storm of change is to engage in dialogue; listen and adapt.

Jim Keeney