Social Media Tough Love

I know I promised that my next post would talk all about the good aspects of social media, but I lied. Ok, not lied exactly but, that’ll come on Tuesday. For now, I want to share a bit about social media tough love.

You know what tough love is, right? Your kid acts crazy and although you want to hug him, you’ve gotta lay down the law so he doesn’t wind up goofing off as an adult.

Same deal with social media. I just spoke (not once but twice) at the Social Media Summit in New York. And, the concern that was most expressed was about dealing with negative statements written about their organization on other blogs (and in comments on their own).

I have a couple few tidbits to share (and this is where the tough love comes in):

[I used to work in corporate so please excuse me if my patience runs a bit thin here.]

1) No one ever promised you a rose garden when it came to social media – and if they did, they were clueless. Your market is going to be talking about your products and services. Sometimes there’s going to be great, flattering comments that puff up the corporate ego and sometimes there’s going to be comments that take the wind out of your sails faster than a roundhouse kick to the sternum. It is what it is. Deal.

2) Your company shouldn’t just be figuring out how to manage negative media coverage now that social media is here to nail your corporate hide to the wall and make sure you deliver on your brand promise. Dealing with these challenges should have been part of the crisis plan from the beginning and if it wasn’t, then you need to have a heart-to-wallet conversation with your PR/communications agency pronto.

This is a new ballgame and we cannot expect that playing with old business model rules is going to get us far in this new game.