I came across this article titled " Leveraging User Generated Content" by Brian Haven on Forrester and it touches on a specific point that professor Sugai mentioned in class last time. Remember how Shell failed to use Tell Shell as a channel to come closer to its customers because they did not know how to deal with nasty comments on the site? Here comes the solution. According to Brian Haven, marketers should never miss using User Generated Content (including blogs) as a way to connect with their customers. Blogs that incorporates customers' comments like Tell Shell is not a bad idea, but the key is how you leverage these content. This is one of the tatics Brian recommended to manage negative comments:
"...Respond to negative commentary.
Start off by establishing clear guidelines about what is allowed and what is not — both for your staff and for customers on your branded UGC sites. Don’t block negative content, but have a plan in place to respond. If you see a consistent type of feedback,make a blanket response addressing those issues. For individual cases, respond back to resolve the issue, just like you would for a customer service call. Most importantly, be clear about how you will respond, and don’t block content because it’s in disagreement with your point of view — leaving that content demonstrates transparency and builds authenticity for your
brand. Over time, you’ll see other people on the site writing back to each other in defense ofyour brand ..."
What do you think? Is this really an effective way to respond to negative comments on companys' blogs? Can we really leverage User Generated Content to our advantages?
For those of you who are interested, this is the link of the article ( make sure you have a Forrester account :)
http://www.forrester.com/Research/Document/0,7211,40753,00.html
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