I had an experience with a big brand recently that sharply brought into focus the issues that commonly occur in large corporations. I have no desire to publicly bash the brand (even though they would never notice) so let’s call them Brand X.
Brand X offers an online learning series that features business experts. It is free to consumers and truly a great business resource, particularly for start-ups and small business owners. I saw the series and after reviewing past speakers, knew that I had a client that would be a great fit as a speaker. I searched the website for contact information but came up empty.
I turned next to Google to uncover social media pages. However, instead of Brand X on Facebook or Twitter, I came up with a writer (that I know) that did a subcontract job for Brand X. Keep in mind, this company is a household name, yet an indie writer’s site with one mention of them in her portfolio was above the fold on page one of their search results. I did find one or two Facebook pages that were not connected and of course, none mentioned the service, which was the subject of my search. Think there’s a problem here?
Finally, I called the retail customer service line to see if I could locate help. They had never heard of the service and transferred me to the corporate headquarters. Surely, the corporate office would know what department or person handles a program that is offered to the public through their website, right?
The receptionist searched her database and found nothing. This wonderful woman really tried to help; she put me on hold and kept coming back to update me as she tried different people. Twenty minutes later, she deduced that maybe the business services department could be of help. Eureka! We had a starting point. Four calls and four people later, I had my answer. The program was “the baby” of an EVP, who not only birthed the idea but runs the program.
At every step of the process, people were kind, but clueless about this service – a service that is the brainchild of one of their executives; a service that their big box stores could leverage to create deeper relationships with their customers
At the beginning of my search, I believed the company needed a cohesive social media strategy but by the end, I knew without doubt that their problems were much deeper. It is impossible to engage a community when you have not been able to engage your own people. This company is like many others, with layers of bureaucracy and one-way communication channels.
In companies like Brand X, information is directed down the corporate ladder and by the time it reaches the bottom rung, no one cares. The workers who touch your customers have dismissed your corporate communications as worthless dribble. Their primary source of information about the company is from other employees. You would know that if you listened.
This brand is not ready for social media. Their current scattered disjointed presence mirrors their internal communication style. Your employees are your customers too. Learn to listen, engage them and create community internally and your external social media efforts will come far easier.
Brand X may have wonderful, smart people working in their company but as a whole they exhibit an arrogance that undermines corporations. When you dominate your space, there’s a tendency to focus on profits rather than people. Why emulate the behaviors of the small and nimble when you are king of the hill?
It’s a mistake that many other industries have learned the hard way. No one is too big to fail or fall. I’m rooting for Brand X. I hope that they can transform their internal culture and create two-way communication channels. I would send them a memo, but experience tells me it would not get read.
How about you, is listening part of your strategy? What tools and techniques do you use to make sure communication is two-way?
karen says
Debbie, you are absolutely right, in that small business is not immune to this issue. In fact, in SMBs it is magnified and the impact can be immediate and devastating to the productivity and morale of a company. Great point!
Debbie Yost says
Even in small businesses this can be a problem. In fact more so, when there is only one employee you can rely on to do a job and that person refuses for one reason or another not to get it done. Regardless of their reasoning, the end result is it does not get done and everyone else is held hostage by the lack of production.
.-= Debbie Yost´s last blog ..Math Teachers =-.
Karen Swim says
Stephen, you are right on the money. This company needs help! The sad thing is I’m not sure they would read or do anything with information presented, thus far they have not demonstrated an interest in “hearing.” It’s painful for me to watch companies miss the opportunity to go from good to great, so it’s likely I won’t give up. Stay tuned!
.-= Karen Swim´s last blog ..Has Your Fire Fizzled? =-.
Karen Swim says
Wendy, consistency is key, but I think consistency in the values is paramount to success. Companies no longer control the message -new media has changed that game tremendously. However, when you are consistent in your brand values and mission internally, your team and customers will carry the message, it will just be done in their own words.
.-= Karen Swim´s last blog ..Has Your Fire Fizzled? =-.
Karen Swim says
Andrew, I love your example and agree with you that when voices are heard within, amazing things can result. Yes, you’ll get a certain amount of whining but when you truly allow everyone to have a voice you can improve your company!
.-= Karen Swim´s last blog ..Has Your Fire Fizzled? =-.
Karen Swim says
Fred, lol! Your point is great about the lower level employees wanting to care but the top execs bury the information. I truly believe that the vast majority of people truly do want to champion their employer. They want to be part of a cohesive culture and know that their work does add value. Finding better ways to communicate key information and fostering an open dialog culture can go a long way in solving the doorstop problem.
.-= Karen Swim´s last blog ..Has Your Fire Fizzled? =-.
Karen Swim says
Jeanne, your expertise in this area is so clear and I know that you understand these frustrations from one that passionately worked to transform the culture of “lumbering giants.” The two issues that stuck out for you, are right on target. Isn’t it awful that all of us here could clearly diagnose an issue while the corporation remains blinded by their own self-love?
.-= Karen Swim´s last blog ..Has Your Fire Fizzled? =-.
Stephen Smith says
Wow, it sounds like Brand X could really use some forward-thinking and improve heir bottom line. Perhaps you could suggest to the EVP that you dug up that he read Groundswell and SWAT, could really transform the company…
.-= Stephen Smith´s last blog ..SWAT: Seize the Accomplishment – Systems Thinking for Everyone =-.
Wendi Kelly~Life's Little Inspirations says
Karen,
As someone who did some time in the corporate world (in the communications department no less) I want to stand up and cheer. In early 2007 I pushed for the creation of a corporate blog and the start of social media and was greeted with blank stares and had to explain what a blog was. In my own department! It became clear that communication within the company was much more of a far-reaching issue then trying to communicate outside of the company. When there is consistency within, the public will know.
Even small companies struggle to get all of their employees consistently informed and communicating a company approved message. It takes a level of training, commitment and then that dreaded word that managers cringe on…FOLLOW THROUGH.
How much harder is it for large and huge companies to get the word out and keep it consistent. Listening is a huge part of it, but also, making sure they take the time to say it enough is also part of it. That drum has to keep on beating until the last one has heard it over and over to memorize it.
.-= Wendi Kelly~Life’s Little Inspirations´s last blog ..For the Love of Rain =-.
Andrew says
Karen,
This company has obviously failed to engage their own staff in any meaningful way in terms of their communication strategy. And if a company cannot even get its own staff excited about its offering then how on earth are they going to do it with external customers? (Obviously, they succeeded in your case)
Two-way communication with lower level employees can reap enormous dividends. In one company for which I used to work, an entire new business line (and a profitable one at that) resulted from a call centre employee approaching the managing director with an idea and the managing director not being too ‘good’ to bother listening.
.-= Andrew´s last blog ..Should Google pull out of China? =-.
Fred H Schlegel says
Reminds me of when I was younger and out on sales training. The experienced salesman showed how the weekly box of communication from the home office was good for propping the door to his office open. I’m not sure that lower level employees don’t care about the information that comes from the top, but most of the important stuff can be buried in so much bureaucratic minutia that we turn off the spigot in self defense.
.-= Fred H Schlegel´s last blog ..Is The American Dream Dead? =-.
Jeanne Male says
Karen, loved this passage: “It is impossible to engage a community when you have not been able to engage your own people.” Wow, I’ve been beating the employee engagement drum and people assume it’s all warm and fuzzy – you have just made an excellent business case. Two big issues jumped out:
1. Employee engagement and corporate silos: Great two-way communication and engagement would have helped the EVP’s initiative spread throughout the organization. I strongly suspect that it was a ‘nice-to’ top-down mandate that started and stopped there.
2. Lumbering giant arrogance: Your comment about corporate arrogance is a key factor in the illusion/delusion of a case study in failure. Goliath feels no need to keep an ear to the ground to hear what’s coming – and inevitably, it’s David.
Karimcatherine says
I am sure companies would largerly benefit from hiring the both of us…provided they are receptive 🙂 thanks for your kind words.
Karen Swim says
Hello Karima-Catherine!
“Engaging with a customer takes time, ressources, effors! it cannot be done as one last thing to do. it has to be part of the whole corporate value.”
There is a wealth of wisdom in your comment and I could not agree more. Yes, I manage social media campaigns as part of my job but nothing bugs me more than companies who refuse to see the bigger picture. There’s a reason we all love those indy and mom and pop businesses – they were personal. You talked and they actually listened, it was as you so aptly noted built into their corporate DNA. Yes, big brands are capable of this too, but it has to be part of the corporate culture and not just another pretty initiative. Thank you so much Karima-Catherine for sharing your wisdom!
Karimcatherine says
Hello Karen,
When you say: In companies like Brand X, information is directed down the corporate ladder and by the time it reaches the bottom rung, no one cares. It echoes so much todays reality. I am amazed when brands still believe that they are participating in social media when then have a FB or Twitter account systematically pushing content. Engaging with a customer takes time, ressources, effors! it cannot be done as one last thing to do. it has to be part of the whole corporate value.
Great great case study.
Karimacatherine
Karen Swim says
Hi Robert!
“I’ll tell ya; you exhibited a lot more patience that I probably would have!”
Lol! I am at heart an old school sales person, I can hang in there with the best of em! 🙂
I agree with you Robert and you used two important words – genuine and broad. If more companies practiced this, which at its essence is really servant leadership, employees would be happier and so would customers.
Thanks for weighing in Robert!
.-= Karen Swim´s last blog ..Is Listening Part of Your Branding Strategy? =-.
Karen Swim says
Hi G.L.,
Oh gosh did you ever hit on one of my pet peeves! Count me old fashioned too but I actually prefer picking up the phone and speaking to a human being! Hmm, think I’ll do a post on that one! Thanks G.L.!
Karen Swim says
Hi Brad and thank you! I agree with you – social media while not a panacea can align quite nicely with an overall marketing/communications plan, and therein lies the difference between those that are successful and those that fail. Let’s face it some companies like Brand X don’t know how to communicate with people (internal or external) so they follow the traditional routes and often get by because they’re big, everywhere and have things we want/need. It’s becoming clear that Toyota did not have a great crisis communications plan but more importantly quality was not a priority. I can’t say it enough but when companies care about people, and seek to serve they will always win.
Robert Hruzek says
You are so right, Karen. It’s almost breathtaking how many folks only think they’re listening to their customers when in fact they might, at most, be only selectively listening. That’s the key to any genuine and broad solution in business – to listen with the entire body and soul, so to speak.
I’ll tell ya; you exhibited a lot more patience that I probably would have!
.-= Robert Hruzek´s last blog ..Hangin’ in There! =-.
GL Hoffman says
Hi Karen…
I agree with Brad and your piece points out another glaring mistake that every company, it seems, makes. How many of us have tried to find a simple phone number on a website and cannot FIND IT. Never mind a name or a snail mail address.
Maybe I am too old fashioned but why make it hard to be contacted?
Keep up the good thinking,
GL Hoffman
Brad Shorr says
Hi Karen, Excellent and very telling case study. Bandwagon jumping is not a good reason to start (or more appropriately, tolerate) a social media program. But the picture you paint here goes much deeper than social media marketing. Organizations like this probably go through the motions on other types of marketing, whether it be brochures, print ads, whatever. They’re vulnerable. Nobody stays on top forever. Look what’s happening to Toyota. They’re in trouble. Not that social media is a panacea, but I’ll bet if Toyota had a powerful social media outreach infrastructure in place, they’d be better off in this crisis. When the other shoe drops on Brand X, will they be ready?
.-= Brad Shorr´s last blog ..Good Marketing Intentions Are Not Enough =-.