Just got through with two webinars in two days, the first was with Geoff Moore and David Thompson on how to get leverage social media to provoke customers into new ways of thinking. The second was with BtoB’s Ellis Booker where Ellis and I review recent research and discussed our recent survey and highlighted the state of today’s B2B Marketer.
In both cases the hype around social media and how it is or isn’t translating into the B2B world was the hot topic.
As I think about this, one of effects that social media has thrust upon companies is a new era of transparency and authenticity. The reason: while companies would rather control the message to play it safe the fact is that the power of the crowd eventually uncovers the truth and the company gets kicked to the curb for their “creative writing”. This new reality is forcing us marketers to communicate what’s really going on.
And this shouldn’t have to be at the cost of profits. In the long run transparency and authenticity should enhance profits by building better, stronger relationships.
As an example of the rewards that can accrue let’s take a look at last night in major league baseball and the “perfect game” that wasn’t. The call was made but instant replay told a different story. The runner was out and Detroit pitcher Armando Galarraga was robbed of a history-making perfect game.
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The perfect game that wasn't.
Instead of crawling into the hole of denial umpire Jim Joyce manned up and not only publicly apologized for the botched call but made a personal apology as well. And Galarraga counters by graciously accepting his apology. (If you don’t think they are both being gracious, check this and this out.)
And that my friends is the story behind the story. While the pitcher didn’t get his name in the record books he did get a nice new set of wheels. Nice consolation but the bigger prize is how they both handled themselves. In business, it’s a lesson that’s good for both competitive and customer situations. It’s not that mistakes don’t happen (because they do) but it’s how you handle the mistakes that builds lasting relationships.
And in today’s always online world, there’s very few places to hide. So the next step is your call.
