You will remember that I justified the birth of this blog by explaining that the advent of the personal web platform was undoubtedly a disruptive technology and for me to understand it I needed to learn its rules… the hard way…. by getting out there and blogging… pushing my comment past anecdotal chatter.

Along the way I have learnt a lot from one of my company’s partners, Hill & Knowlton. H&K manages their clients’ reputation by keeping a keen eye on the blogosphere. Not only do they watch it but they lead the way on understanding how to manage it. Niall Cook and H&K Netcoms run workshops for their clients to help them prepare for a new world of high transparency and public accountability.

My Haveyoursay.com campaign against Land Rover has taught me a lot. Firstly, that even big brands like Land Rover (and their PR Companies) don’t really understand how to manage the blogosphere. After today’s lengthy conversation with a senior manager at Land Rover I felt good, I felt that Land Rover cared and saw eye-to-eye with me – a valuable customer. The truth is that they were very aware of the campaign from the outset! Their PR Manager had picked up my email, so had their PR company yet they had chosen to ignore me. At the end of it all … that is their only crime. All they needed to do is reach out to me in the early days of the campaign and a short piece of communication would have doused the flames of my passionate frustration.

I did take the opportunity to explain to Land Rover that it was about time they took some of their Customer Relations online – their contact page only relies on the Royal Mail and a good old fashioned call centre that encourages you to put everything in an envelope for the man with the cleft stick.

In my view, a good online strategy linked into Land Rover’s business objectives could accelerate bridging the chasm that Land Rover needs to cross -

- thats after they have drawn up a plan to manage the blogosophere to best advantage!
Note: Originally posted at SmartApps

brochure, land rover, smartapps