Re: UKNM: RE: lastminute.com does delight its customers!

[Jo Chipchase]

John Braithwaite wrote:


 >Surely Brent failed in this issue as he forgot one of the basics rules of PR

 >- don't get too defensive or speak unless you have to. The whole

 >lastminute.com appraisal on this list would have lasted a maximum of a

 >couple of days and he could have remained anonymous.

 >Check out the Boo manoeuvre - keep quiet whilst the storm rages and join in

 >after it all blows over. We now have a regular contributor from boo and his

 >addition to this list is one of the many reasons why there are so many

 >'anonymous' subscribers out there.


I don't agree.  The proactive following up of postings made in newsgroups 

and discussion forums is an important part of Internet Reputation 

Management.  In many cases, it pays to counter negative postings before 

they have a chance to propagate into other forums, or get reported in other 

media.



  From the IT sector PR chapter I've written for the forthcoming "Public 

Relations Handbook":


In some cases, corporate reputations have been saved by the monitoring of 

virtual forums.  For example, during March 1999, complaints about Pioneer 

DVD players began to appear on newsgroups.  Pioneer contacted complainants 

directly via email, and offered to fix their DVDs  an approach that 

contained the negative publicity, preventing it from reaching a wider 

audience.  Conversely, Intel chose to ignore newsgroup discussions about 

the now infamous floating point error in its Pentium chip.  Eventually the 

story was picked up by the mainstream media and Intel had to spend millions 

repairing the damage.


The monitoring of virtual forums is especially important to publicly quoted 

companies.  Investors are increasingly using message boards to discuss 

companies and share stock tips.  AgriBioTech saw its stock fall by more 

than 20% when negative messages were posted on a message board provided by 

the popular search engine/directory, Yahoo!.


In some cases, newsgroup postings can provide a proactive PR 

opportunity.  For example, a posting on the uk.local.london newsgroup 

during August 1998 suggested: "If you want free PC banking, try First 

Direct.  As for NatWest, I wouldn't bank with them if they were the last 

bank in the universe".  The discussion soon spread into other groups, 

taking the NatWest debate to a wider audience.  Had NatWest spotted the 

postings and responded quickly (it failed to do so), it could have reversed 

the adverse coverage and enhanced its reputation.  After 24 hours had 

passed and nothing had been done, at best an issues management job could 

have been implemented.  Clearly, there was also an opportunity for rivals 

of NatWest  especially First Direct  to respond and emphasise the benefits 

of their services.  For the PR practitioner, an opportunity existed to act 

as 'Internet guardian' and advise the companies on how to proceed.


_____________________________________

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Internet & Publicity Services

http://www.can-u-hack-it.com 



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