big brand realty recently had a client that wasn’t too pleased with their listing agent’s marketing of the client’s home. having found no sympathy from the managing broker at big brand real estate, the consumer decided to post several scathing commentaries on highly trafficked sites on the web. unbeknownst to big brand realty, several parties climbed on the bandwagon and posted their less than complimentary opinions of the brokerage on these sites too. five days after the initial post the company became aware of the negative press, learning that a local television station had scheduled a news story to be aired the next day. the topic? how consumers are using social media to fight back against poor service.
contrived? somewhat. only the names have been changed to protect the ignor… er, innocent. this scenario is playing out across the country as consumers find voice in blog sites, youtube videos and rating sites. they’re taking matters into their own hands when they can’t get resolution, becoming digital town criers – warning anyone who will listen to stay away. this means there’s no longer any place to hide for those offering unscrupulous business practices or poor service. they’ll be ratted out eventually.
but what of the excellent companies and agents that have bent over backwards to provide a resolution to a consumer that has unreasonable expectations or demands? are they going to be held hostage for fear of an internet smear campaign?
or take the scenario of the consumer that doesn’t complain to the agent or management, instead deciding she’s going to tell the world of her dissatisfaction with both the agent and the company. she secures the domain name thiscompanysux.com and proceeds to post a blistering diatribe of why anyone in their right mind should avoid doing business with this firm and the agent.
there’s a lot of talk goin’ on out there. better listen.
as sites like yelp, digg, outrageous agents and others take off and gain visibility with consumers, rating sites will proliferate to meet the demand of consumers that want to be heard. and since consumers are more likely to tell others when their experience has been less than satisfactory, this means that dissatisfied consumers will have more places to talk. which is why we need to listen.
listening in on the conversations on the web sounds daunting and much harder than it actually is. you can use such simple (and free) tools as google alerts (www.google.com/alerts) and addictomatic (http://addictomatic.com), set up keyword searches through tweetdeck (www.tweetdeck.com) and twendz (www.twendz.com), or extensive search tools for a fee such as trackur (www.trackur.com), radian6 (www.radian6.com) and wool.labs’ webdig (http://woollabs.com).
regardless of what you use, you need to start listening to the conversations.
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