Commerce has officially entered the age of social media. For the last 5-10 years websites have been the big thing.  It used to be that if a business didn't have a website, that business was on the fast track to extinction.  Today the landscape has again morphed into what we used to know as the wild wild west.  You no longer have to be an IT professional to publish information to the web.  All you need is a free account to Blogger or open source blogging software and you are tearing up the web, pushing information to the entire world.

Social media is all about sharing, collaboration, and communication. At no other time in our existence has there been the ability for any individual to disseminate information to the entire world.  The power of information is transferring at break-neck speeds from the traditional media giants to anyone who has something to say.  Learning to harness the chaos of this type of media while at the same time, maximizing the opportunity of this type of media has been a challenge. Below are five fantastic examples of how not to embrace social media.  These examples are compliments of Joseph Jaffe, President and Chief Interruptor of crayon, a new marketing company.

• Faking (Sprint): The phone company released ads in
  which the CEO offered an email address, giving the opportunity for
  communication. Instead, a corporate shill auto-responder emails back.
• Manipulating (Sony): The maker of the PSP created
  a fake blog and attempted to manipulate the conversation. They ended up
  garnering a deserved “golden poop” award.
• Controlling (T-Mobile): The phone company sent
  cease and desist letters to a popular blog for using a color they claim
  to have trademarked. The blogosphere revolted and T-mobile missed a
  chance to meaningfully engage with its customers.
• Dominating (Target): A blogger was ignored by the
  retail giant because they felt she didn’t have the clout of traditional
  media outlets. After the blogger gained more and more attention, Target
  claimed that their continued silence was based on a lack of adequate
  staff.
• Avoiding (Starbucks): The coffee giant already
  felt a squeeze from its consumer base, but avoided a fan’s desire to
  visit every store was passed on. The only response to the fan was one
  of suspicion.

DJ Francis, another writer and online marketer added to the above sins of social media:

• Greediness (AP): The Associated Press recently pushed for restrictions on the amount of their content bloggers could cite. In the era of Google juice, link love, and a wealth of online information, the AP chose the path of restriction, as though this greediness would result in keeping all of the information under their roof. It took only 24 hours for the back-peddling to begin and it now appears that they will wisely drop the call for restrictions. They had the opportunity to engage their readership, even empower the bloggers and other outlets who were distributing their content free of charge, but they trotted out the lawyers instead.
• Cowardice (Dunkin’ Donuts and Heinz): Dunkin’ Donuts pulled a series of ads after political partisans attacked spokeswoman Rachael Ray’s scarf for looking like a terrorist’s (yes, you read that correctly - a terrorist scarf). Likewise, Heinz pulled an ad deemed by the small-minded to be “unsuitable for children” because the on-running joke throughout the ad ends with two men kissing (cripes, the explanation sounds racier than the actual spot). Instead of giving their customers some credit or engaging in a conversation about the merits of their arguments (or the absurdity of their opponent’s), both companies caved. A conversation was passed up in favor of tucking tail and running.

In these cases, the blunder is not that the company was lacked business acumen (a nice word for stupidity). The blunder is that they failed to engage at a critical moment with an active community that supported them. They refused to join the conversation and suffered the consequences of empowered individuals. My advice to businesses is that if you set up any type of social media, you had better be ready to embrace the chaos of the new frontier.  The chaos of the new frontier is simply any user publishing their responses both positive and negative.  Deploying social media is not for the faint of heart. Be ready to embrace consumer truths about your product and business because if you give them a chance, they will let you and the entire world know what they think.  

 We embrace positive responses with pride and want the world to see how satisfied our customers are, but how do you deal with negative responses? Sonia Simone has written a fantastic article entitled "What Do You Do When the Conversation Gets Ugly"? Here are her bullet points, but I recommend reading the entire article.

• Stay dispassionate
• Get up and take a walk
• State your position
• Don't retreat behind corporate language
• Be succinct
• Don't have two conversations
• Expect some four-letter language
• This, too shall pass

Jim Adams
CEO
New Homes Directory.com