Can bloggers force companies to their knees
Dissatisfied customers can send businesses to their knees on the internet with hate pages that reaches the top of search results on Google. A simple blog is everything it takes.
Fashion Ministry (“Fashionministeriet”) succumbed after bloggers wrote about overcharges and poor business ethics. Now the online shop is closed:
Fashion Ministry is unfortunately closed now, as in the past has become a series of unfair accusations, such as cheating and fraud
When searching Google for Fashion Ministry (“Fashionministeriet”) than 49.000 results come up, number four on the list entitled “Fashion Ministry plat owls.”
Get a firm’s reputation ruined, there is often no alternative but to close the shop. It is virtually impossible to remove the bad search results again. You can try to push them on Google’s page two, but it is expensive and time consuming.
Short URL & title:
Can bloggers force companies to their knees — http://www.torbenrick.eu/t/r/kao
Share it:
If you enjoyed this article, please take 5 seconds to share it on your social network. Thanks!
Hi Torben
Perhaps in general it should be ‘could social media bring a business to its knees?’. Social media has forced openness and transparency in businesses that was not possible possible before. The power has shifted to the common people who can, if dissatified with the business, impact the business and brand very publically. As the CEO of Dominos Pizza said ‘you can only fight social fire with social media’. A business or brand has to be aware and be prepared to engage in conversations about their product or brand. This is the way forward.
Best regards
Varsha
Hi Torben
I’ve been keeping an interested eye on the Paperchase/Hidden Eloise story over the last few days (and to a lesser extent the Kevin Smith/Southwest Airlines story) from a brand management perspective.
It does seem sometimes (to those new to it) as though social media has come out of nowhere and is suddenly starting to have a major impact on companies behaviour and responsibility. The reality is that social media is an extension of traditional ‘over the fence’ consumer to consumer recommendations – except that social media tools make it easy for consumers to reach hundreds and thousands of other consumers at speed. Some companies haven’t quite caught on to this yet and are struggling to bend their old customer relationship models into this new shape. The more forward thinking businesses realise that repurposing old ways isn’t that effective and they develop new ways of interacting with their customers alongside the old.
Some thoughts I’ve had on those recent ‘Twitterstorms’ (please do visit my blog if these links don’t connect):
http://lyndseymichaels.com/2010/02/next-steps-for-paperchase-a-brand-issue/
http://lyndseymichaels.com/2010/02/the-mob-shoots-from-the-hip-a-modern-st-valentines-day-massacre/
This is an interesting discussion that I think will become more and more necessary as time goes on. I do wish more non-media businesses would join in though, it’s unfortunate for all that few do as yet.
Best regards
Lyndsey