Posted by Anne Marsden on Mon, Oct 05, 2009 @ 03:05 PM
Last week Google introduced a new applet called Sidewiki that brings social networking to a whole new (and some say terrifying) new level.
In essence, this new widget allows anyone to post comments for all the world to see - right next to your website!
Yep, that means anyone - ANYONE - can heap praises or throw sticks and stones at you or your products.
If your company has been unwilling to engage in the exciting world of social media - either because you didn't think it really mattered much to you, your industry or your brand, or because out of site (pun intended) meant out of mind.....well social media has now come to you.
Almost every business today has a website. Whether your site is as simple as an electronic brochure or as sophisticated as a fully interactive site, it is one of the keys ways you communicate with your constituents (clients, prospects, investors, regulators, etc) and market your products.
And until now - when anyone visited your site - you were the only one talking to them. Not anymore.
Now when someone visits your site - they can quickly and easily see what others are saying about you as well.
So, just think - it's like having a "Review Me" sign next to every page on your website.
If you have great products and happy customers - this is a wonderful thing! It's like free advertising!!
But if you've had some bumps in the road - a mishap with poor customer service, or an employee fired for poor performance, or a competitor who decides to knock you down a notch - then this is a scary thing! It's like letting other people hijack your website to do you harm!!
Well, like it or not, two things are true:
1) those people were already talking about you - good and bad, though most likely the bad ones have been more vocal. It's just that if you haven't been participating in the social media conversations (be they on a blog, Facebook, Twitter or a dozen other social media platforms), you didn't know people were talking about you.
And you know what they say about Ignorance....
"Ignorance is innocence - stupidity comes with experience"
2) Your need to manage your brand image via social media has just elevated from "When I can get around to it" to "Right Now!"
Your IT support company can do a number of things to help you stay
abreast of IT technology that impacts your business - like writing
articles like this one, and providing tools and managed IT services to ensure your on-line presence is up and running efficiently. But quality tools and good support don't replace your need to actively manage your on-line image.
From entrepreneurial business owner to corporate brand manager - if you ignore social media - particularly Sidewiki - you do so at your own peril.
For a step by step on what it is and how to use it read Brian Maka's post.
Have you tried Sidewiki yet? Any stories to share? Let us know how it is or isn't (yet) impacting your business.