Every day I talk to customers considering using a private label community like Conference 2.0™ and the same question comes up: “We want to keep control of the community; can I delete something if someone says something bad?”This is a learning moment for two reasons.
One, I learn that even after all the talk about Groundswell and Forrester Research, and the Keynote Speech by Charlene Li at ASAE Annual in Toronto, some don’t understand one main thing: You do not have control over your members, your community, or their behavior in social media (if you ever did).
Two, It’s a teaching moment for me. I try to break the news gently, if not challenge their thinking: “You never had control”.
I try to explain that your organization’s constituents, members, and customers have the control and they ARE talking about “you”. If you exhibit control, your members will go other places and talk. And, even if you offer the best online forum for talking, you might only get to hear what you want to hear.
Associations came to be because of likeminded people wanting to get together to share knowledge & perhaps get behind a cause. Occasionally people disagree with the direction or initiative of the association. As an association leader, dealing with “rabble rousers” is a delicate balance. Exerting dominion over them may turn them off and cause them to jump ship. They could be just be trouble makers, or…they may have a valid concern.
If they have a valid concern, do you really want to quell that? This concern or difference in opinion could turn into a “groundswell”.
You can’t fix what you don’t know about, so give your members a place where they can voice their concern, and don’t wince when they do.
If you haven’t read the book Groundswell, and are considering a foray into social media for your association, STOP RIGHT NOW. Read the book; and understand that you do not have control over the “groundswell” But you can harness it.
“THEY” are talking about you. Now, do you want know about it...or not?
It's amazing that many people still react with "What if they say something bad?" Wouldn't it be great if one of your potential clients said, "Oh my. What if they said something great?"
ReplyDeleteDid we stop allowing people to have phones, email addresses, the computer because people might say something bad? No, we just ignored it. Actually, we hardly ever thought about it.
It's really about basic communication techniques and helping people learn how to deal with negative comments. It will happen regardless. How we repond to it is ultimately more important.
Thanks for sharing this - you are dead-on in these observations. People are always going to talk and conference organizers or associations that don't provide the platform are missing out on extraordinarily valuable content and data.
ReplyDelete