You Stink- Give Me More

October 28, 2008 · Comments

Lee Baler Headshot- NOT MY PHOTO I just heard from Lee Baler at Digitas. He wrote to thank me for the links to Seth Godin’s videos the other day, and that his team was part of the group working with AMEX Open Forum on their content. He told me a bit more about all that they’ve been doing to roll out more and more innovative and useful content over on the Open Forum site, and he’s right. They’ve got GREAT stuff that goes well with the Seth Godin masterpiece.

But what I loved was this snippet at the end. Lee Baler said this:

Why I’m contacting you is you made a point that we all completely agree with regarding the embed tags. I thought you let us off the hook too easily. You should have nailed us for not distributing this content more widely.

Man, I LOVE that! I love that Lee wasn’t upset or offended that I wanted the site to improve, and I love that he asked for me.

What Companies Should Take Away

First, points to Digitas and especially Lee Baler, for coming back and telling me what he thought. Super big points for asking for more. And third, excellent that he was listening in the first place so that he could engage a blogger in the midst of all the other traffic.

Second, companies have to absorb negative and critical comments. No, you don’t have to accept vulgarity and trash talk (just talked about a corporate comment policy) , but when someone acknowledges you at all, step up and say, “Thanks for the comment.” Now, the power move comes when you do something like Lee and say, give me even MORE to work with here.

Finally, how easy have you made it for people to reach out and comment? Make it ridiculously easy. Make it as ubiquitous as leaves on the driveway in the fall. Allow your customers to slather you with thoughts, because guess what, kiddos? That’s the seed for opportunity. Every touch is the chance to have another interaction. Take them up on it.

Are you encouraging feedback? Are you BEGGING for it? Are you plastering people with your interest in listening nearly as much as you are your interest in blathering at them? DO it.

And you? What should I be doing for YOU that I’m not doing these days? What else do you need? How can I do more?

AMEX Open Forum

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  • I agree with the comment that you have to make it ridiculously easy for people to comment on your blog. Silly captchas and such are so over played and don't facilitate the conversation - which is a major part of social media and blog marketing.
  • You hit the nail right on the head with this one, Chris. Companies need to be able to take the criticism (as long as it's constructive, off course!) and respond accordingly.

    The ones that act the way Digitas did will be the ones that reap the benefits - interaction with their customers leading to improved product, leading to satisfied customers, leading to more sales.

    Simple economics, yet one that many companies don't grasp. Kudos to Lee Baler and Digitas for showing the right way to deal with their audience.
  • A strategist is, first and foremost an educator. They educate the client and their own teams on the goals and planning to get a client from here to there (where the money is).

    By really investing in that education, increasing the client's understanding of social media, making it less scary, getting the client behind an idea or concept because they get it and not just because "I WANT ONE OF THOSE" is the secret sauce.

    Embedding is scary, because you are giving up control, the content is going "over the wall" and people might say bad stuff in lots of places you might not know about as a result. And if the client is completely briefed and has knowledge of the risks and benefits and challenges and opportunities...
  • Lee is a gentleman and a scholar (and a coworker, mentor and good friend).

    Chris, given the frequency with which your name has come up around these halls, I think it's time we had a talk...

    Looking forward to further discussions in the days to come! Thanks for the great feedback!
  • A terrific working example of listening, engaging, and social media at it's very best. I will be using this very example in a mentoring session tonite
  • Yo playa, I see you have tight business stello on blogging. Stop on by and comment me sometime. I found your blog through backtype..:-)


    Shawn
  • @ChrisBrogan Nice catch, and awareness to blog it.

    @Lee Baler Kudos for transparency! How refreshing!
  • Hi Chris,
    Thank you pointing out this cool, and hopefully, winning site!
    I am very happy that I am involved with it, albeit in a small way, as a guest author.
    Joel Libava
  • You're absolutely right -- you need to seek out constructive criticism on the 'net -- its the thin edge of the wedge into a constructive and useful dialog. Very hard (read impossible) for many people to do, though.
  • I'm so glad you called them out on the embed tags and lack of comments. Their short nuggets of Seth Godin and Tom Peter's talk are great but not easily distributed.
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