Monday, May 08, 2006

Cultivating online communities doesn't involve lawsuits

I recently met with the MD of a prominent UK media company, who told me that the attitude to most companies (and client companies) in his industry to customers with blogs is simply this: Shut them down.

For anyone who thinks that customers having online voices is a passing fad or something that can be fought with bare teeth or lawsuits, you might want to heed the tale of the ad agency that sued a blogger for badmouthing a client - and found themselves on the receiving end of an avalanche of bad PR and hostility.

Individuals and communities are online and are here to stay. Some of those individuals - and perhaps entire communities - may have negative things to say about your company. You are going to need a better strategy for dealing with that than Shut them down. Come along on the 21st of June and get some practical advice on how to make the most of the opportunity presented by the huge growth of online customer conversations.