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Openness & The Competition
Statement Of The Week: "Openness Is Good.... For The Competition!"
Social Media in my view, seems to revolve around openness, transparency and an honest dialogue with stakeholders, customers or other interested parties.
Much has been said about businesses and how they should pro-actively engage in social media and honestly address criticism by consumers and others to prevent such criticism from spiraling out of control. This seems to me a negative and defensive approach.
Proactive Defensive Or Positive Value Creating Approach?
Businesses can create value for their customers and bring a positive contribution to end users and others. The form this contribution by business takes could be discussed and otherwise influenced in a positive atmosphere. Social Media are very suitable for this kind of positive dialogue as well as any defense against threats caused by public discussions about your brand.
But apart from negative word of mouth created by consumers, the openness and transparency inherent to social media can pose another threat to business: namely the abuse of this openness by the competition.
I would like to discuss your experience with this phenomenon below. Perhaps you have a forum or blog where your competitors advertise in comments, chasing your customers away with cheap and obvious messages or you know of examples of brands who's open approach to their customers by using social media left them so vulnerable to tactics of the competition that they got themselves into trouble.
What's your opinion: is openness good for business and how can it be applied without leaving an organization too vulnerable to malevolent competitors?
Tags: engagement, management, marketing, media, openness, proactive, risk, social, strategy
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Dale Little on -
Openness is good for business, but being open and 'transparent' doesn't necessarily mean giving away all of the company 'secrets'. Openness regarding our consumer policies, even our pricing, isn't a bad thing. The reality is that regardless of a policy of transparency those that wish to steal our ideas or practices will devise methods to do so one way or another. Transparency in social media or with traditional marketing practices and consumer interactions must focus on providing the information the consumer requires in order to make informed choices that are ultimately positive experiences resulting in both repeat business and referrals to the seller.
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Permalink Reply by Job Folbert on -
This seems a very well formulated principle which we can take and apply as a kind of code of conduct and it's very positive at that. But should we really simply accept that the competition enjoys the same advantages as we want to give our customers? What practical measures should we take? Can you give examples of a real situation in which there seemed to be a conflict between the openness we are advocating here and how it is applied without making the competition the wiser? I think everyone could benefit from such best practices/ examples.
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Permalink Reply by Benjamin Brink on -
Openness can be applied to brick and mortar business as well. When a store opens its doors to the public, it allows the competition to visit. The public space of a store is open to abuse from competition. For example, some pranks include 1. spilling a bad smelling liquid near a popular area so visitors are less likely to hang around (I know of cases in department stores), and 2. re-arranging shelved inventory to make it difficult for potential customers (and store personnel) to find particular products (I know of cases in the video rental industry).
When opening up a website to the public, a website operator must be prepared to handle the various attack strategies, abuses, scaling and other deployment issues related to the various technologies and processes used.
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Permalink Reply by Bill Misrasi on
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In the past it has always been very difficult and sometimes expensive for a business that has been attacked, to retaliate or even stop the attacks. But today, the upside to Social media is just that...it is a social environment with a lot of businesses sharing with others and developing a trusted and respected network of professionalism. I would think, in that environment, if another business owner was to unscrupulously attack a participating member of a social network their chances of gaining any advantage would be very minimal at best.
I can see the attacker getting blackballed from every social network just by the word being spread about the attack and naming the attacker by other participating business owners in the network.
I would think that if a business is attacked and damage is done and no one steps up to defend that business... maybe there needed to be some house cleaning!
The times they are a changing! Businesses must step up to a more professional level of customer service and fair business practices. We have never been under such extreme potential of scrutiny in business practices as we are today, and for one, I welcome it!
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Permalink Reply by Job Folbert on
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I'm wondering Bill: you seem to appeal to a sense of justice based on word of mouth, naming and shaming: but are these really a solid basis for a kind of "justice" in this respect or are they just skills one can acquire and add to one's arsenal of agressive tactics to fend of the competition regardless of the question of justice? Is "justice" a business concern or practice at all? It seems to me that by appealing to feelings of justice with regards to the actions of a person or business, rightly or wrongly one can gain an almost moral right at least socially to damage, destroy or harm that person or business with great force if the social appeal to do something about it is great enough and simply takeover their market, customers or assets. Once a "social decision" is made in such cases, it becomes uncontroleable and unstoppable unless great skills of manipulation are applied. It is much easier to mobilise a group of people against something then to admit later on that they were wrong about it. Where a professional sense of "justice" would be an independent detached arbitration by experts carefully weighing the facts.So at this fundamental level: are social networks and an objective sense of justice even possible? But I'm boring you with a much too fundamental discussion. Removing someone from one's network or giving them less advantages then others is a personal intuitive choice that a business owner can and will make. This is a fact of life. But since intuition is at the core of many business owners skillsets perhaps we should try and help business owners and other social media participants to refine that intuition in this respect.
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Permalink Reply by Job Folbert on
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Or to make sure that the professional level of participants in a network is extremely high, which could be construed as undemocratic or contrary to the nature and goals of business in many cases. So unless the products or services a business has to offer are aimed at highly trained professionals who are willing to buy them in significant numbers even if it's a niche product then this is no viable option. The very openness of the web makes it almost impossible to fence of a network or other social environment to such an extent.
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Wow!!! Not sure what brought that all on Job, but let me simplify what I was expressing. There is only one true justice system in this world and that is the voice of the people... unshielded from the self appointed experts in any industry. Social media is RAW data, actual experiences in real time. No time for a board of experts to sit down and mull it over to decide if they think something ought to be done ...or not! Social Media is "live". It's what is happening right now. If I make a statement in somebody's online store, or I make a comment about your business in a blog or discussion group, be it true or not, it is live. It has been said and because the constitution allows us that freedom in America, it happens billions of times a day on websites and in real life. In the past we have some what been shielded from much of the language that is shared between consumers , be it good or bad, because of the non existence of a mass broadcasting system. But today... that shield is gone and like it or not, moral justice or not, true democracy is about to take place for the first time in history. The people finally have an uncensored voice in all things. And we are going to see it truly change the nature of business and life. We are being watched, scrutinized and judged to the world as our audience, and most of the time long before we even know it or can, defend it. So, Yes, we do need to help all business owners and managers to know and understand that they have a huge audience that can make or break them, like it or not. Many will say... well then, we just won't join a social media network! That is surely the kiss of death to their business. Social media is the new frontier to the way business is going to be, and is currently being done. It offers the greatest opportunity for small business success ever in the history of the world ...if it is embraced as such. I will stop there for now!
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In addressing the competitive nature of exposing your products or business model on line, I think of it like this. "Sharing". Social media networks allow you to share, not only your few hundred or thousand customers with others but they offer their millions of customers to you in the same network. Two words... cooperative collaboration! Means "Share & Talk". That's the new word of mouth viral game in town. We should all be deeply involved with our associate business owners and customers in a social media community network. It's powerful!
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Permalink Reply by iMocial on -
Great point. Unfortunately my sites take up so much time in building and maintenance that I don't have nearly enough time to engage in conversations. as much as I would like.
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Permalink Reply by iMocial on
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@Bill in reply to "Wow!"discussion
This is becoming an interesting discussion Bill! I hope it helps me and others understand the phenpmena we're dealing with in the combination of social media and business on a deeper level. So if I understand correctly, in your view:
1.Social Media is somewhat compearable to the American constitution in that it empowers the individual to decide and act instantly and it proliferates a real and direct democracy on a worldwide scale.
2.Like celebrities, each empowered individual is scrutinized by the world as his audience.
3.This incredible opportunity affects all walks of life including business and forces us to live intuitively or in the "now".
4.Experts are basically people who put themselves between (the) people and their objects.
I can see where you are coming from Bill and clearly there are amazing opportunities and wonderful utopia's to be derived from the vision driving social media. And we need such long term vista's to drive us forward. You make a compelling case. If I didn't believe social media held a promise, I wouldn't have started this network. But I like to make my own life difficult by thinking about possible new obstacles to overcome.
We shouldn't stop thinking or seeking expert knowledge and careful and critical examination of dreams and promises could benefit us just because the fast paced environment of the internet and the words of other participants in it more or less force us into an intuitive state and instant decision making.
I'm sure you couldn't have written the eloquent speech you just have without giving the matter thought on an expert or near expert level. However you conclude by appealing to a BELIEF in social media. I on the other hand would like to continue thinking while acting on the promise of social media and I hope it will help me make the most of it. So if I do that with regards to your compelling case for social media, where does that lead me? I'm going to address each point below:
1.Just like the American constitution was not thought out by a lynch mob in the wild west, the internet including social media rest on very rational ideas. In fact the very fabric of the internet, it's structure and languages are extremely rational.
The infrastructure for the internet was roled out by governments who invested hundreds of billions of dollars in it. The military and universities (experts) played a large part in it's genesis. And if the American constitution were just a legitimization of direct democracy: how did these representative institutions come about? Was it a bad thing that these institutions developed expertise?
And if so why are we benefiting from this expertise instead of taking the obvious step and marching into the woods where we would be much happier living in log cabins of our own construction? Is it an invitation to be rude and stupid in large groups of people and be mislead by mercenary business men? no. The maffia was also a very succesful network and business organization. Just because it meets these two criteria doesn't mean we have to admire or immitate it because a third criterion "criminal" is also in place. We should therefor develop an intuition for detecting misleading practices and hidden agenda's and responses to them that do not harm legitimate business men or other social media participants.
2.I for one don't feel the need to become a celebrity or live like one or be scrutinized like one and yet I have an online network, a network site and a blog that after a lot of hard work I hope will end up advertising my professional skills rather then my personality. This way I hope to preserve some privacy without losing the opportunity to participate in social media or being unfriendly to people (like in any work environment).
3.This network is called Business & Social Media! for a reason.Namely that the very way in which people express their preferences and therefor commercial opportunities, is something a marketeer can't ignore. It is in fact an incredible opportunity mainly for big business. But what about the individual? The small business entrepreneur?
This network aims to enable freelancers and others to benefit in the same ways and using some of the same tools or similar low cost tools as a multinational would. Again: this is an extremely rational approach. Creating the right infrastructure, offering tools to rationalize and optimize customer service and sales processes given the new situation posed by the rise of social media.
In contrast: using these tools correctly to relate to people, customers or otherwise requires a different skillset which is definitely very intuitive and very "now" but learning these skills (the very antithesis of intuition) seems to me also to be a rational calculating process.
This in itself brings us to an important question: will the adoption of business in social media on the large scale now anticipated ruin social media? Will perhaps our understanding of friendship itself be totally inflated by social media as a business platform? Such questions should be addressed if we want to enable small business owners and other businesses to benefit from our preferences as expressed to our "friends".
I'm sure this sounds like negative thinking to you but in fact I'm positive about social media and it's opportunities for business. I simply believe that critical thinking could contribute to merging the two in ways that work rather then ways that will undo much that is so great about both.
4.Expertise is not a bad thing. A nomenclature may be able to supress real expertise and in fact work like a network that seals off the top of society with mass media, party cliques and old boys business networks: but all these things on the scale of mere mortals will do the same if we don't pause to think once in a while.
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I believe, Critical thinking gets in the way of natural progress and growth and is typically directed by a nomenclature of self appointed elitists. Open discussion in a forum of unrestricted expression, allowing the most extreme thoughts, positive and negative, is always the best way to allow for a path of nature. In the social media environment we find a platform that allows for the smallest businesses and the most secluded or confined individual the same opportunity of expression or business communication as the most elite and sophisticated individual, group of individuals or business representatives. It's going to change the world. It's going to bring down oppression and celebrate the truest form of freedom.This forum you have provided can be a powerful piece to that process if you allow unrestricted access and expression. And I by no means, mean to say we should allow the vulgar, but all else. We should all be involved in providing and supporting every opportunity for free enterprise as well as free speech and expression. Thanks for the opportunity to express my self on your forum. You are always welcome to visit and participate in mine. I have truly appreciated your dialog of comments and expression in your beliefs and understanding. More people should participate. I truly enjoy the expression of passion in regards to any matter, for therein lies the beating heart of progress and growth as individuals, communities, countries, and enterprise.
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