You’ve probably read more than one post recently on all the great things companies are doing on Twitter. What’s less obvious are the companies that forgot to get on Twitter, or to otherwise monitor (or in some cases care about) what people are saying about them online. For those companies I have proposed My Almost Free Twitter-Based Corporate Social Media Strategy.

The idea for the article came to me as I observed a well-known truck rental company getting trashed on Twitter. (You can probably figure out which company it is, and if you-haul stuff, you’ve probably done business with them but I don’t see any benefit in naming them here.) This was more than just a rant session. These people were trying to get the company’s attention by complaining in a public forum. It was kind of an informal version of GetSatisfaction.

A company with even the most superficial presence on Twitter could have managed this situation, but instead, it just snowballed as angry consumers added their experiences and company spokespeople slept soundly at their desks.

David Alston, of Radian6, the “instigator” of the discussion, posted on this, and summed it up:

“Here we have a well-known North American brand seemingly oblivious to the goings-on in social media and to the pent up frustration with its brand.”

So where were the company’s representatives and spokespeople while all this was going on? Asleep? Too busy to communicate? Wherever they might have been, they were not on Twitter, they were not in the blogosphere, and they were completely ignorant of this groundswell of consumer discontent. And once apprised of it, they simply chose to ignore it.

I was unable to find any media contact information on the company’s website. Like most companies that employ the Web as a means of hiding from their customers, the company provided only a rudimentary inquiry form designed to limit customer comments and prevent consumers from learning actual company names and e-mail addresses, which, as everyone knows, if released to the public, will bring about the decline and fall of civilization as we know it.

I completed the form, and outlined for them the under-$500 Twitter-based social media plan. Not surprisingly, I received no acknowledgment of my e-mail. I did not expect the company, which has repeatedly demonstrated a lack of understanding of the most basic aspects of brand management, to actually sign up for Twitter — which was my recommendation. But what I did expect was a computer-generated “thank you we’ve received your inquiry” note, and I do not get that either. I am not sure why I am surprised that a company with notoriously bad customer service, and complete indifference to customer discontent, would behave in this manner. It just seems so basic. Interestingly, for a time, as this was all happening, a new user with the company’s name showed up on Twitter, posted a few test messages, and subsequently deleted the account.

No company “has” to be on Twitter, but with the low cost of entry, and the opportunity to get involved in and learn from some of these discussions (and possibly head some of them off before they become blog posts and social media failure case studies), why wouldn’t you? Corporate communications people who don’t know how to use Technorati, Google Blog Search, search.twitter.com, RSS and alerts to monitor online discussions about their company are nothing less than negligent.

Tags: twitter, david alston, radian6, customer service, failure, indifference

I enjoyed a recent interview with Amanda Chapel on Tom Cuniff’s iCPG blog in which she takes on some social media sacred cows (SMSCs) and warns prospective corporate social media adopters:

1. Beware of social media cancers. Know that by participating in social media you invariably expose yourself to and empower the virulent haters of your company or organization;
2. Beware of the demagogues. People and competitors are just waiting for you to make a move for them to leverage;
3. Beware of the SEC. Talk to an expert in SEC law to understand the long-term implications of “open communications;”
4. Beware of market pressure to relinquish control of your brand. Once it’s gone, you ain’t getting it back;
5. Beware of hucksters. I’d warn them about ROP (see above). You can and should predetermine precisely your expected real Return on Investment.

This is some of the best social media advice I’ve seen. As Brad Hamilton of All American Burger said, “learn it, know it, live it.”

Tags: tom cuniff, amanda chapel, ROP, ROI, social media

Interesting bit of news that Google is “launching a new product for the enterprise market, Google Video for business. It’s a new application in the Google Apps office suite, enabling workers to upload and share videos inside their organizations.” Pricing is $50 per user per year. Wonder if this will compete with Brightcove and similar offerings.

read more | digg story

Something weird happened on Twitter this evening. So-called traditional journalists used Twitter and collaborated with “regular” Twitter folks to report on Hurricane Gustav. Rick Sanchez of CNN has been tweeting coverage of Gustav, and has been chatting with Twitter users in New Orleans and elsewhere. Apparently, Sanchez even projected tweets on his CNN broadcast.

Another Twitter user with the identity GustavReporter is apparently a team of Chicago Tribune journalists en route to New Orleans (in Jackson, MS as I write this), occasionally reporting live via Twitter, and using TwitPic to post still images. I noticed that their photos, like the one below, were not captioned, and they told me this was because they were driving.

The Tribune was tweeting via Twitterific*, an iPhone client which means, yes, a journalist no longer needs a satellite uplink, and can cover a live event, complete with images and even video, using just an iPhone. (Yes, you can capture video with an iPhone, long story, no time to tell it right now.)

Mark Mayhew, who lives on Bourbon St., has been “covering” Gustav on Twitter and tweeting with the Chicago Tribune team.

I don’t claim to be an expert on New Orleans or Gustav, and this post is based solely on what I could “see” via Twitter, but it is interesting to watch the unfolding of the inevitable merger of traditional journalism and social media. It is a sad moment indeed when we will no longer be able to say traditional journalists “don’t get it.” That’s going to leave an awful lot of bloggers with nothing to write about.

* iPhone users can also get a free version of Twitterific from the iPhone app store

Tags: Hurricane Gustav, Rick Sanchez, CNN, Twitter, GustavReporter, Chicago Tribune, New Orleans, Twitterific, Mark Mayhew

I’ll be giving the keynote at the Communitelligence Executing Social Media Conference, October 15 in Atlanta.

The tagline for the conference is New Tools, New Rules, New Game. I will be kicking off the Collaboration track of the conference:

What’s hot on the Internet eventually finds its way inside organizations. This session surveys the way companies are using wikis, podcasts, online video and intranet social networks to allow employees to connect, communicate and collaborate.

As always, I look to you, my loyal readers, to help me with the latest (and coolest) case studies on how companies are using these technologies internally, and with business partners, to collaborate, share ideas and make things happen. The best case studies will be rewarded not only with visibility in the keynote, but with a stylish, 100% cotton, limited edition, Socialized t-shirt, designed by award winning Los Angeles graphic artist Opehlia Chong.

If you’re coming to the conference, I look forward to meeting you there!

Tags: Executing Social Media Conference, Atlanta, Joel Postman, Communitelligence