Underground Web Designs Blog

You really should read the SanDisk story on Chris Brogan’s blog. Go ahead, I’ll wait. 

Back?

When I read that story, I was blown away by the power of social networking. A customer had complained about a product on Twitter, so hundreds would read the complaint and most companies would not have even noticed. Because Rachel was plugged in to the social web and acted quickly to address the complaint, thousands have heard the story, and thousands more will hear it in the days to come, because it is spreading.

The sad part (or maybe not) is that Rachel lost her job with SanDisk. However because of her willingness to help and social media savvy, she now has a public recommendation on a popular blog. I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s been hired already.

If you do business in the online world, it’s important to make the first step when it comes to customer service. You can’t just deal with the people who contact you… you have to engage the discussion about your product or service where it matters: on the social web.

Yesterday I wrote about how so many marketers abuse the power of the social web by marketing AT people instead of realizing that the social web is a conversation. Well, today I have the perfect example of the power of the social web, and the lengths some people will go to to make a little extra money.

Ian of Conversational Marketing wrote today that LinkAdage is selling blogging space on a .EDU domain name. Why is this such a big deal? Because not just anyone is allowed to own a .edu domain name. In order to own a .edu domain name, you have to be a verified educational institute. In turn, because only educational institutes can own these domains, they are trusted by both consumers and search engines to provide useful and accurate information.

Now LinkAdage has spoiled all that by offering anyone access (for a fee, I might add). Even though technically they’re allowed to do this, (see Ian’s article for details), that doesn’t make it right.

The Lesson:

There are many things you can do online to market your business. And there is nothing wrong with using social media, Search Engine Optimization, and other aggressive marketing strategies to do it. But don’t be one of the people who cuts corners and abuses the system just to make a few extra bucks. It never pays in the long run.

And as I pointed out yesterday… when the blogosphere hears about someone who’s trying to cheat the system… we’ll make sure the world knows all about it.