Let’s give space to comments
Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009
After all we have said about the dialogue between companies and consumers, about why it is useful to open a corporate blog, and about the importance of showing that behind a brand there is a group of people and not only a marketing department, it is important to go deeper into the role that the users’ comments have on corporate blogs, and why you should never underestimate them.
When you open a corporate blog, you do it precisely with the aim of establishing a contact with your audience, be it made up of consumers or other companies or partners. We understand then that there is no point in hindering the only way that the counterparts have to clarify further doubts or even only to express their opinion. It would be like putting a plaster on the mouth of the people who take part in a conference where we had declared we would be at their disposal.
On the contrary, the more comments a blog will have, the luckier the author should feel because he has opened a debate on a precise theme, will which thus have an echo also outside, as we have already seen.
It must be said, though, that it is generally easier to see a line of opinions on blogs which deal with specific subjects, such as those regarding technology for example, rather than on corporate blogs, but even more so, it would be a big mistake to hinder, or worse, cancel the comment of a consumer on a company’s blog. This would tell the outside world that the company has something to hide, going against the concept of transparency which we have already talked about.
You could now run up against the negative boomerang effect where the consumer who has been silenced, and in a way betrayed, reacts expressing his feelings on his blog, on other forums, on social networks, creating a negative image of the company which could, in its turn, bring about another rain of negative voices of people with a small, middle or large audience, as in the case of influencers.
In conclusion, any company that decides to open a corporate blog will have to accept its risks, transforming them into positive factors. While cancelling a negative comment opens some hostility between the two parts, answering with sincerity creates an empathy which will surely be appreciated and acknowledged.
