Two News Stories Highlight Social Media’s Power
Social media is now the back-yard fence, the office water cooler, the front porch swing, the global cocktail party. It’s the place where people gather to exchange pictures of their kids, swap recipes, talk about the news, and, of course, it’s a place where people do business. Now, social media can add another job to the long list of things it can do: crimebuster. Yes, it’s true, as a story that recently appeared in my local newspaper makes clear.
Not long ago, the Salem Statesman-Journal, an Oregon newspaper, told the story of a Medford, Oregon man attempting to escape the law. He fled the state, running from charges that he had sexually abused an Oregon girl for four years, beginning when she was just eleven. The victim’s family started a Facebook page. A tip to that page led investigators to Michigan; and from there to Pennsylvania, where the fugitive was arrested.
Every day, creative people find new uses for the interactive internet; which we here at Communication Steroids believe includes things like blogging, internet chat, and, of course, the social media. Some of those uses can catch criminals. Others can help you stay in touch with your customers; provide them human contact to answer their questions, handle their complaints, and talk to them about new and exciting products. The interactive internet has the power to reach out to people from coast to coast and beyond.
Savvy business leaders understand the power of the interactive internet to build profitable relationships. But, even if you find someone who’s still skeptical of the net’s power to make money, you must certainly understand its power to undermine your marketing and damage your reputation.
That power was recently underscored by another story; again from Oregon. It seems a football player at the University of Oregon (a very successful program that just last year won the PAC10 championship and a berth in the Rose bowl) was disappointed at the coach’s handling of a disciplinary matter involving another player. He went public with his criticism, lambasting the coach in a four-letter-word filled diatribe. That Facebook posting was, apparently, the last straw and resulted in the players’ dismissal from the team.
The U of O’s problem is a very clear example of why every business leader must pay careful attention to the social media. Thanks to the social media, your marketing department just expanded. It now includes every single solitary employee you’ve got. For good or ill, every person on your payroll is now a public representative of your organization. What they say online has the power to bring a fugitive to justice, or to tarnish the sterling reputation of a quality and successful enterprise.
The United States Air Force gets it. They’ve published a handbook on social media for their PR officers. They warn, “If the Air Force doesn’t tell it’s own story (online), someone else will.”
Are you keeping track of what’s said about your company or your industry online? Are you using the social media to build relationships? Are you telling your own story? Or are you letting someone else do it?
