When no news is bad news...

When no news is bad news....
I have had many clients recently turn a downward glance at the use of blogs and online communities as new methods for getting in touch with their broad consumers or audience base.
Why...
The worry is that their consumers will start saying bad things, and many companies understand that there are a lot of ‘bad’ things to say about their products or brand. They believe that providing consumers with a platform to voice their thoughts and opinions will lead to a mass ‘consumer blah’ of negative comments which other potential consumers will read and thus create a cycle of brand and consumer alienation - I have problems with this on two levels.
1. On a pure business level – if you know that something is wrong why try and hide it? The way the communication networks operate– if your consumers have a real problem with you they will tell as many people as they can through whatever means they have available. Take the recent virgin Atlantic Airlines example – bad airline food got a real bad rap . Virgin’s response was not to defend the bad food...but admit poor service quality in a unique way.

2. If you don’t know what’s wrong how can you fix it? Developing and collaborating within your own online community (alongside consumers) gives you the authority to change the things you don’t do well and respond to your consumer’s wants and needs. It shows them you do really do care about what they think and they can see you taking action.

The moral here: sometimes bad news is good news for business!