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I can see clearly now, the blog is on
By Justin Goldsborough | July 14th, 2008
Justin case you were wondering…A few weeks ago someone asked me how you know that blogging works. I could have pointed to a number of different case studies and pontifications from social media SME’s, but I didn’t. The answer I gave instead could have been perceived as sarcastic. I know I would have perceived it that way if I’d heard it from someone else. But I really wasn’t trying to be a smart aleck at all. Clever, maybe. Smart aleck, no.
The answer I gave was as follows: “There’s this case study that validates blogging. It’s called the Internet.”
While I wouldn’t say sarcasm was behind the answer, there was definitely more than a hint of frustration. And here’s why. I know there’s a learning curve with social media. So I don’t expect everyone to be as grounded in the research and the company success stories as a I am. And I guarantee there are some who have many more of both in their hip pocket than I do. But what frustrates me sometimes is how the reasons to blog can seem so clear to me and still remain so murky to others. Look at it this way.
People carpool to save gas, right? They eat because they’re hungry, yes? They drink coffee because it has caffeine, no? Ok, the taste does grow on you, but the caffeine doesn’t hurt. In each of these simplistic scenarios people have an issue at hand and they do something to solve it. Again, not trying to be sarcastic with these examples, but that’s exactly what blogging is.
CEO’s blog to gauge the pulse of their employees. Those same employees blog to inform colleagues, friends and family of what they’re company is doing and how it’s improving. In general, people blog to show off their personalities, give their take on the stuff that interests them and discuss their take with others who care enough to have a take. For whatever reason a person blogs, he/she is doing so to address an issue, kind of like when you order that Starbucks in the morning because you need a wake up call and ok, maybe you like the taste. Make sense?
So what got me thinking of this rant? I was packaging some research on CEO blogging today for our Exec Comms team. As I sifted through the studies I’d seen several times, I once again started to ask myself how the benefits of blogging could be anything but crystal clear. But then I came across an article — thanks to my colleague Paul Baltzer — that grounded me in the fact that not everyone approaches this topic with the same bat and glove. In the end, what really matters is what they leave the ballpark carrying. Did I lose you? Well, let me dive into the example and if I’m still not making sense, you can always leave a comment below, right?
The article was about Dell. No, not the “Dude, you’re getting a Dell” guy who ended up getting busted for purchasing the green, green grass. But Michael Dell, a CEO who made a habit of trashing Apple a few years back only to see the company’s stock soar past Dell’s on the coattails of it’s cutting edge technological innovations. Five years ago Michael Dell could have been described as a conservative, long-standing CEO running a company selling a compelling product but getting trashed in the media because of poor customer service. In fact, the guy who wrote the article I read, Jeff Jarvis, authored a series of Dell Hell blog posts in 2005 and thousands of customers commented on and linked to Jeff’s post, mostly in agreement.
Who knows what Michael’s advisors were telling him at the time. And really, who cares. What’s more important is what his customers were telling him through blogs like Jarvis’. And the fact that Michael listened and finally started to get it.
As Jarvis detailed in this story, Dell was making all the wrong types of headlines for its customer service struggles. But in the spring of 2006, the company began joining online conversations and reaching out to bloggers to solve their problems. And in the summer of that same year, Dell launched it’s Direct2Dell blog, which gave the company more of a human voice and a platform to engage in conversation with its consumers. All of a sudden, Dell didn’t suck so bad.
Fast forward to last winter when Michael launched Dell’s IdeaStorm site, which basically asks customers to tell the company what to do and rate the products on the Dell site. Think fast and tell me the last time someone asked your opinion, took your advice and acted on it and in turn made you upset (Wives, please exclude your husbands from this example). Hasn’t happened, right? Dell’s blogging efforts have the company’s customer service rep slowly improving. But more importantly, their CEO has done a complete 180 and now appears to, as Jarvis notes, have “gotten the blog religion.” Listen to this quote from the article:
“We screwed up right?” Michael mentioned before delving into his newfound views. “These conversations are going to occur whether you like it or not, ok. Well, do you want to be a part of that or not? My argument is that you absolutely do. You can learn from that. You can improve your reaction time. And you can be a better company by listening and being involved in that conversation.”
Michael’s revelations and his company’s reactions, Direct2Dell and IdeaStorm, are now living pieces of that case study I mentioned before — the Internet. He gets it…When you’ve made a customer mad or gotten under an employee’s skin, listening and asking what you can do better don’t necessarily solve the problem. But they’re a step in the right direction. So why did it take Dell so long to see what seems so clear now?
Back to that ball and glove you bring to the ballpark — your perspective. Each company has it’s own history and it’s own issues and so do its employees. That’s why there will always be a contingent of corporate America that argues against universal solutions via change management initiatives like blogging.
Therefore, the conversation will continue. How do we know for sure that blogging works? I’d counter with the question: How do we know for sure that anything works? All we have is evidence (case studies and best practices) and our judgment. That was enough to change Michael Dell’s mind and I’m hoping it will be enough to persuade Sprint CEO Dan Hesse to enter the blogosphere. I’m thinking it might be after hearing him say just a few days ago: “If you’re waiting until you have all the answers, you’re waiting too long to make a decision.”
Yep, I think Dan Hesse would see the Internet as a significant enough case study…all sarcasm aside.
“The postings on this site are my own and do not necessarily represent the positions, strategies or opinions of Sprint.”
August 22nd, 2008 at 12:53 pm
[…] Jason and I discussed how companies like Dell, Comcast and Southwest are following the same path by joining online conversations with customers […]