So You Think You Don’t Need Social Media?
Think Social Media doesn’t matter? Think your ads work better? Think people aren’t talking?
In 1980 when I lived in Hawaii, I coined the term “Baby Luau Effect” – We throw a huge party on our children’s first birthdays. The tradition started hundreds of years ago when infants often didn’t live to see their first birthday. The celebrations continue today, and an event may have 300-400 people in attendance.
Hawaii people are no different than the rest of the world. We get together, look for the food and alcohol, then sit down to reconnect, “talk story,” and tell our tales of woe. One topic that never gets old is bad customer service.
So, “Baby Luau Effect” means - if you treat a customer badly, they will go to a Baby Luau and talk about your store, your bank, your company, and 300 people will hear about it … if the perpetrator is wearing a nametag, that name gets into the story, too. And people have looooong memories. Some of the stories are about an event that happened 20 years ago. That was then, this is now…
Social Media has made this phenomenon international. Now, instead of 300 people hearing about your bad service, your inability to keep your advertising promises, your uncaring attitude … 300 MILLION could hear about it. I call this the “Electronic Baby Luau Effect” – on Steroids!
It’s vital that you are in the mix. You need to be monitoring your brand and your reputation in this new social media world. If you can’t join, make sure someone in your company is online and keeping their eyes and ears open. Better to answer the complaint than to have it out there floating around. And, the good news is — if they are saying wonderful things about you, you can capitalize on that and thank them publicly, thus spreading the compliment around even more!
Watch the video and learn. Then go get on Twitter, Facebook, Plaxo, LinkedIn. If it confuses you, find a consultant to help you. It’s that important.
Take care!
and find me:
On the web: http://www.BethTerry.com
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Cheers!
Beth
© 2009 Beth Terry Seminars, Inc.
good post !