Take a look at this list of companies ragan.com shared on their blog, “Report: The 5 Brands that could perish in 2012“, that might not make it through 2012 – very interesting list. It doesn’t really matter whether we all agree or not at this point, that is not the point of this post. The point is that it doesn’t really matter in some cases what the facts are as much as the opinions of your audience.
The interesting part to point out is what is really going on here. It isn’t about their operations, it isn’t about their employees, it isn’t about the traditional reasons why companies used to fail in the ‘old days’ (before social media). It is about “what people are saying about them” that is causing this potential demise. Someone didn’t handle this right so because there are “tools” (like facebook, twitter, blogs, Digg, etc.) easily available to the general (voting) public, they are getting trashed.
You might say this isn’t fair – and I can’t speak to whether it is or isn’t. But what I can speak to is that it is happening, with our without their participation. If they get brought down it won’t be because they all of a sudden started making a crappy product. It will because their audience of consumers aren’t happy with certain aspects of their company and they are “talking” about it (loudly) on the social networks and others are joining in. The people have a (very powerful) voice today because of social media and are happy to share their thoughts and opinions freely.
All companies have issues and problems – everything doesn’t always run smoothly (despite what they tell you). The key for the future will be how well you handle this in the “new airwaves” of social media – not the older traditional airwaves. If you get behind an issue and become more transparent and authentic and invite your audience to participate rather than try to control them you will ultimately win. People are looking to be on your “team” not just be your adversaries. Companies are good at creating adversaries – but the future lies in their ability to create “advocates” and positive word-of-mouth.
