Web 2.0 and Corporate Communications
Social media and web 2.0 are a fast growing and potentially hugely important phenomenon, socially and commercially. It is a manifestation of people power in an extraordinarily direct and vibrant way. There is huge potential for growth and working and engaging with people in new ways.
A lot has been written on the subject but less has been focused on what corporate communications professionals can or should really do about social media.
There has been an implicit assumption that corporate PR should be involved and engage with this phenomenon.
Errr, but how? One of the largest international PR consultancies came a cropper when they posed as bloggers looking at issues relating to their client Wal-Mart but did not disclose who they were and who their client was.
There are numerous other examples of ‘fake’ bloggers or contributors being exposed by others on the site.
The CIPR has now stated that ‘astroturfing’ – faking spontaneous grassroots support for something online by asking contacts to post favourable comments – is likely to be in breach of the CIPR’s Code of Conduct.
And yes, companies can do their own blogs (and indeed this is ours) but the point about blogging is that it should be personal, pretty informal and direct. If you are blogging about the media and about politics (as we are), that is one thing.
But if you are the CEO of a listed company and you have to have your statements checked by legal and by Investor Relations, you are going to struggle. There are one or two US corporate blogs that really work, Jonathan Schwartz’s at Sun Microsystems being a good example. But most don’t (not yet at least).
So what should companies do? Or should they do nothing and just monitor closely?
The first thing companies should do is avoid jumping in with both feet before it has been carefully thought through and getting it wrong or even worse damaging their reputation in the process.
There are a lot of firms out there trying to sell companies their services in this area and implying that they are missing out and behind the times if they do not engage immediately. But there are pitfalls in trying too hard to use a new and fashionable medium. There are lot better ways of engaging than by doing something badly, ineffectively or at worst unethically.