Jeremy Wagstaff takes Nokia to task in this post for failing to identify and listen to important customer complaints as they bubble up online …
The bigger question here is: Why is Nokia not monitoring this kind of thing and helping out these customers by either approaching me to post something helpful on their behalf (folks looking for answers should go to this link, or call this number, or send an email here, or whatever) or post a comment themselves to reach these lost souls? Surely someone in Nokia has noticed that their own Nokia Care Centres are getting bypassed on Google, as dozens of unhappy customers cry for help or vent their frustration elsewhere online? Nokia, please pay one intern to trawl the web for this kind of black hole and the problem could be solved, and a PR blindspot fixed, in before it gets out of hand…more here.
This is obviously a growing problem, one that a lot of corporations (including Nokia, I’m certain) are grappling with. I think PR teams will continue to inherit this problem — whether they like it or not — until longer-term fixes are in place (see PR Remixed, Mashed-Up).
That said, listening to the blogosphere is something corporate PR teams will have to adapt to very quickly. It’s not as easy as “sticking an intern on it,” (see Jeremy Zawodny’s post), but it’s not as difficult as you might think either. There’s already a ton of useful information on “how to listen” on the Web, the NewPR Wiki and GPRBW are two good examples.
Mike Manuel is the founder of the award winning Media Guerrilla blog. Media Guerrilla is an insiders take on the practice of technology public relations with a focus on the issues, tactics and trends that are specific to the tech industry.
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