Clean up your act before you even think about sales
Singapore bloggers recently have been struck by the banning syndrome in “local” blog “community” which most have thought to be pretty much over. With the date close to Ping.sg second birthday, the non-transparency over the first anniversary’s award seemed to be almost a case of “dead rising from their graves”. If anyone feels the bad reputation and alleged award fixing have both been laid to rest, clearly they hadn’t.
I think the example above taught us a very important lesson on why online reputation is of paramount importance. I caught this story off Stuart’s blog, of how Heinz is losing its grounds on the internet front. Along with it, a whopping amount of negative publicity had been discovered on one single page of Google Search. (I tried it, and the screenshot is accurate!) I can’t help but wonder if most of these entities are even serious about the social media scene, or are they only messing it all up?
Stuart also highlighted Heather’s observations that Heinz doesn’t seemed to respond to the rising negative criticism. Rings a bell? I bet it does, especially when legitimate questions on the integrity of Ping.sg’s community manager went ignored and not discussed openly with transparency. What’s worse than having the employee of another web-based business, Yebber, to answer the questions. Anyway, how does telling old grandmother stories help in reinstating confidence and transparency? If that wasn’t enough to paint Ping.sg black, a personal attack was launched on one of the critics of Ping.sg system. Ironically, yet another of Yebber’s folk (a podcast host). The reason? The critic was her previous employer.
Can readers not wonder what’s wrong with the Yebber crew? Wasn’t I right about bloggers becoming social media abusers? WAIT, I think we can anticipate the explanation.
Outcries against Ping.sg were dealt with in the form of banning. Not least to mention, some of the banned members were also sponsors for the site over independent occasions. (HALF TIME EDIT: Being supportive of banned users can also lead you to be banned on Ping.sg) With careful examination, it also led me to ponder why the severe problems came in only after the community manager came onboard, not before. Best of all, most of these banned users joined the site much earlier than the community manager herself. Glorifying herself with the contribution of others way earlier definitely is a lousy move. Is it a fussy blogging community? Or does the problem resides like a virus in the management?
I think from point to point, credibility shows itself and corporate companies cannot ignore negative publicity. When will it be the day where more than five items on a single Google Search showed negative criticism of Ping.sg? At this rate, perhaps in due time unless some major shaking is done. Much like Stuart’s example, Heinz now faces the crucial test of answering a really big question… is Heinz lying?
There’s a lot they can improve on. That’s for sure. Take for example, adhere to public standards that associated parties with organizing committees are not allowed to participate in contests or awards. This is the unspoken rule across countless contests held by companies worldwide. Even family members of employees are not allowed to participate for integrity and fairness purposes. Will anyone not suspect if award rigging is involved?
At a point where $100,000 is considered too little for such a site, how much does it take to buy it over? A million bucks? It beckoned the question if the bad reputation is even worth that money. Exactly six months ago, I was offered another 5 year-old event production workshop for acquisition with an evaluation of merely $20,000. I shared the opportunity with some friends in the business world, the unfulfilled promises and sub-standards services to ex-clients left a bad taste in our assessment. The investment needed to right the bad reputation is many more times higher and will go on for years.
Will you buy a car knowing it will break down a week later? It’s all about the money, I told you so.
Related Read:
Church of the Customer - More on why online WOM matters
Conversation Agent - We Talk and Learn by Story
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8 Responses to “Clean up your act before you even think about sales”
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EDISON ROWAN LEE
Ed savors the building of conversations and always prospecting the inception of values beyond the usual puffery.
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Technology changes, humans don’t. This is not mine, Deb Schultz uses it as a reminder/tagline on her blog. Except for now, online, things bubble to the surface fast. The other consideration about blogging is that it often feels like talking. It’s not, but it feels that way. Just like email. Instead, it is a one way message that volleys into digital space with often a considerable delay - and disconnect - of response.
To make things a bit more complex, because the tone of social media is conversational, and the space in which we consume the information is often personal (house, apartment, etc.), there is an often ‘false’ intimacy between the person who reads a post towards the content. It gets personal really fast - and emotional. Which is the very issue that paralyzes companies. Who’s best to answer? Let’s wait and see is the reaction. Yet waiting too long may be a bad choice given the speed at which negative information takes hold. It is human nature to focus on what’s wrong. It used to be a survival skill. See how easy it is to get wrapped up in a cycle here.
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I can’t disagree any of those you have spoken Valeria. I appreciate your time to leave this comment, and yea, bad press flies faster than a supercar these days.
I guess it isn’t too bad to wait a little more before a concrete response is offered. I think it will tell consumers or bloggers that all aspects of the crisis are being considered before rushing into one. The same can’t be said when clear signals are being sent out that no response is even intended.
For bloggers alone, companies should not even attempt to toy with time or be hopeful that silence will be enough to tuck the problems away.
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I sound like a broken record… haha….
I need to let it out. To be accused for a year for what I didn’t do and to be an outcast. The personal attacks never stop, even until today. Nobody wanted to know what happened, they just want blood.
It’s heartache to see Singapore blogosphere so messy. Like mafia, gangs here and there.
I want to see a change….. a blogger community that helps one another and improve in their blogging skills, not their flaming skills.
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For blog communities, the management of it pretty much is the role model for the rest to follow. I assume that the rising voices of displeasure is itself a call for change. This is something that communities and companies cannot ignore.
But just like how we usually say it, there are always black sheeps around and that is something we really can’t do much.
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Personally, I never liked flaming attacks. I believe that every blogger has their own opinions. We may or may not agree with what its written, but we have to learn to respect, not flame.
Just my 2 cents here.
Nicely written article ed.
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Hi Nicole, have a great day in school.
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S$100,000?
OK I am ready to start one that can sell at S$100,000.
How about a S$10,000 investment to start it up, build a community then sell it off? Haaha.. if only things are so easy.
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The last record I have on hand, a clubbing social site with twice as much members of Ping.sg and weekly events (without fail) sold at a price tag of SGD$50k.
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