The other day I was checking out some of the new social media sites that exist on the Internet. The sites are very impressive and come across as the source for finding local businesses and reviews. One of those sites is called Yellowbot. I was searching through the site when I came upon a review from a user named Eric Snow who decided to use Yellowbot to share his experience at a BMW dealership in Manhattan (http://www.yellowbot.com/bmw-of-manhattan-new-york-ny.html) with the rest of the world.
Note that the review was made on May 23, 2009, over a year ago. There is no background to the reviewer nor is there a rebuttal from the customer, in this case the BMW dealership. Hopefully (BMW's sake) the BMW dealership in Manhattan is not getting too much traffic from Yellowbot. To me it seems, that BMW's PR team has fallen asleep at the wheel - sorry for the pun. This is but one example of the pitfalls of Social Media as it stands today.
Social Media is a great tool to communicate to and with your markets, but you need to be aware of the pitfalls and the potential hazards. Firstly, if you're not doing it yet, you need to start monitoring these sites to see what is being written about you and your company. Secondly, you need a plan of action in case a review or comment being presented is false, untrue or simply exaggerated. If you find a particularly harmful, exaggerated or untrue comment, you need to rebut and take action.
Do you not think that there should be minimum standards for social media websites when they wish to present negative comments that have the potential to do damage? Should Yellowbot not have an obligation, once the comment has been posted to first inform the company that a negative review has been posted and see if the company wishes to rebut? There are existing rules that govern what the print media can and cannot print. This should be a good starting point for social media sites and the like.
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