With Social Media The Truth Comes Out

Posted on | August 24, 2009 | No Comments

It must be said that the travel and accommodation industry are probably looking at social media and thinking of their business counterparts: ‘You poor bastards, you never stood a chance!’ The truth of the matter is that TripAdvisor has been providing user generated travel reviews since 2000, making the travel industry veterans in the business of mitigating poor customer experiences voiced in the form of online reviews. That is not to say that every hotel knows how to manage its brand & reputation online, but with over +1 million business reviews and nearly +2 million candid traveller hotel photos uploaded on the site, it would be difficult for the travel industry to stick its head in the sand and pretend it’s not happening.

Wakey Wakey

Bad Company Reviews on Twitter For a microblogging take on company reviews, jump on Twitter Search and type in keywords such as ‘shit company’, ‘worst company’, ‘crap company’ and you will find some eloquently vented frustrations of the dissatisfied customer. Consumers have never been more dangerous. Negative word-of-mouth (WOM) has gone viral. The traditional definition possibly no longer even completely communicates the awesome duplication effect of WOM online. It is certainly no longer a case of one dissatisfied customer telling 8 to 10 people of their experience.

Perhaps ‘viral word-of-mouth’ should have its own definition rather than being a sub-category of word-of-mouth. It would describe:

‘The mass online duplication of a positive or negative consumer experience by viral communication through social media platforms and relevant websites’

The consumer is empowered, they like the fact that their dissatisfaction may cost a company a few thousand or millions of dollars a year. Though it must be said that consumers are also more than willing to share the love when they have a stupendous tale to tell of customer service excellence. If it were not for this keen desire to share their experiences, Yelp.com would have a large hole in their business model. To the contrary, the site is expanding as their reader base continues to grow and share ‘what’s great and not so great’ in their area.

The beauty of this online chitter chatter is that the truth about companies starts to come out and those with dirty closets filled with skeletons will not be able to hide their secrets for very long. Consumers have always felt like the little guys in relation to the large, evil, polluting corporations, so now that David can take on Goliath, David comes out in full force. The sling of choice – social media.