Wanted to direct you to a great article written by Weber Shandwick’s own Colin Byrne, CEO UK and Europe. It appeared last week and includes practical tips for minimizing reputation damage that comes from a company’s badvocates. Colin also cites real-world examples of the kinds of damage companies have experienced when they haven’t kept “the window to sabotage” shut tightly. Enjoy the article.
Badvocacy can turn into good business if enough attention and the right person locks in. A software program called Auto-Tune helps engineers correct the voice of a singer. Obviously, if you use the wrong settings, a holy mess can occur. Distortion galore. In protest, Jay-Z, the super popular American hip hop artist, just produced a single called D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tone). Jay-Z was badvocating the new program, especially when he heard it was used in a commerical. Over 1,000 people watched the video. See the YouTube video. Turns out that his celebrity anger has turned into nice jingles at the cash register. Sales are up according to the Auto-Tune company. [Read about this on our Weber Shandwick Yammer web site which was linked to a New York Times article]
I thought I should remind everyone who reads this blog to take a look at our mini-book, The Good Book of Badvocacy. Since I am forever ranking everything and anything, I noticed that the number of search mentions of “badvocacy” has steadily risen. Just a couple of months ago, the number of Google mentions was 17,500. Now we are at 25,500. And remember, we started from zero since the term did not exist before we launched our thought leadership focus on advocacy. So the term is gaining currency which is good . The mini-book is about how companies need to address their badvocates and can combat badvocacy before it is too late.
As I searched around this afternoon, there were several kind reviews of our inaugural book worth sharing. A big thanks to everyone for advocating on behalf of The Good Book. Thank you!
“Each step has tips on how to achieve it. With the nice graphics, easy readable style (you can read it in 5 minutes) and relevant insights, The Good Book of Badvocacy should be a must-read for every corporate executive.” Blog
“Global public relations and communications leader Weber Shandwick began a series of short publications on topics they believe industries of all kinds could benefit from reading. The first of the series is called “The Good Book of Badvocacy”. It deals with the still pretty new sensation of customers being capable of drastic sway, particularly negative, on how companies and products use the internet and other recent technologies. “ Blog
“For expansion on the topic and steps read the book. To read quickly it won’t even take 20 or 30 minutes, and it is very entertaining. The format is original and exciting.” Blog
“ I found these tips to be extremely straight-forward and impactful in a media world where badvocacy is imminent. To read more visit Weber Shandwick’s site and download this very handy mini-book, The Good Book of Badvocacy. “ Blog
“I just finished reading The Good Book of Badvocacy by Weber Shandwick. I felt that it was a very relevant and insightful book in this day and age of viral marketing. Anybody connected with PR, advertising, marketing, or really any kind of business should give this book a read.” Blog
Tags: Advocacy, Badvocacy, The Good Book of Badvocacy
Not bad at all. In fact, really good. Weber Shandwick’s advocacy initiative appears #8 on Google’s first page when I searched for “advocacy.” We appear after Small Business Advocacy and before Juvenile Diabetes Advocacy. In my book, mention on the first page of Google is ownership (or near ownership).
We thought deeply about this thought leadership initiative and how the world has radically changed when it comes to what people really care about and what motivates them to support brands, companies, people, ideas and governments. We identified the likes and dislikes of Advocates and Badvocates who are willing to stand up and be heard or counted on what they believe is ethical, just and the right thing to do. Read more about what Advocacy means for you and your company. Sounds like a commercial but it’s just me being excited.
Tags: Advocacy, advocates, Badvocates, Google, Weber Shandwick
Thought I’d share another finding about advocacy from our study with the Economist Intelligence Unit - Risky Business: Reputations Online. This research snippet is about where Badvocacy meets Web 2.0.
Although global executives identify major media as the most threatening to company reputation (84%), plenty of executives (42%) recognize the damage new media can impose. Blogs and discussion forums are the most feared with online videos, comments on social networking sites, Wikipedia entries, and online pictures compounding potential destruction. Considering that fast-rising Web 2.0 new media and social networking tools can literally rally advocates and badvocates overnight, more executives should be concerned about new media as a reputation killer. Here’s how each of these rank in terms of global executive fear:
While the blog is considered the king of Web 2.0 badvocacy risk now, it will be interesting to see how the other technologies evolve as badvocacy threats.
If you’ve been following this blog you know that we at Weber Shandwick firmly believe in the “return on advocacy.” Simply, it’s the business benefits of finding and connecting with your advocates. Now maybe it’s time to kick off the “return on BADVOCACY.” Can there be such a thing? Afterall, our own study, Risky Business: Reputations Online™ clearly identified the fear instilled in global executives by customer and employee badvocates.
Employee badvocates are a big concern: executives ranked employee criticism (41%) in a tie for first place with leaked confidential information as the greatest online risk to their own company’s reputation. As employees wrestle with declining pensions and possible layoffs, reputation bandits will be even harder at work online.
The Internet provides innumerable platforms for employees to strike, usually anonymously, at a company’s reputation. However, rather than being immobilized with fear about the potential for such strikes, Nokia, as noted in an article in this week’s BusinessWeek, is embracing employee badvocacy. They are allowing their employees to rant anonymously on an intranet soapbox called BlogHub. “Workers can be savage as they flame thier employer…Nokia managers want them to fire away.” Nokia believes that innovation is accelerated by encouraging employees to say what is on their minds. I would surmise that the other benefit is that by allowing employees to release their frustrations in a “safe” environment, they won’t be tempted to go outside Nokia’s four walls and vent.
It will be interesting to see if Nokia sees a Return on Badvocacy as it struggles in a tough economy with strong competitors. In the meantime, we’ll keep on eye out for other examples of turning badvocacy into a positive return.
Tags: Badvocacy, Badvocate, BusinessWeek, Nokia, Weber Shandwick
June 2 was a proud day for badvocates - they had finally been affirmed as a group when MarketingProf’s selected Weber Shandwick’s “Badvocate” as The Marketers Addictionary’s Word of the Day. Weber Shandwick was congratulated for our talent on word play. The Badvocacy terminology was created when we developed our Advocacy Starts Here thought leadership initiative. The word of the day is a pretty cool site - you should check it out and add your own if you have a creative word to share.
Big shout out to Chris Brogan, Justin Levy and all the folks here at Inbound Marketing Summit in Dallas. Just finished my presentation on how Advocacy and Badvocacy are impacting marketing, and the various apple carts that are being upset in the process. For those who can’t make it, you can watch the proceedings live here or join us at the Boston event late September. Here’s my deck, BTW — would love your feedback…
Imagine my delight when I picked up Friday’s Wall Street Journal and on the front page was an article about people going after those unwarranted auto-warranty calls. The calls go like this, “This is the second notice that the factory warranty on your vehicle is about to expire.” I regularly receive these calls on my cell phone and I eventually became so annoyed that I called them back a few times. However, the company only had voice mail and I could not reach anyone. I left a voice mail telling them to take me off their list and please not to call me again. Of course they did. The reason I had reached my limit and turned into a “badvocate” was that I received one of those calls while in Beijing last summer. The call came in the middle of the night and I thought that something terrible had happened at home. After the infuriating call, I had trouble falling back asleep and my jet lag was prolonged.
The article described how an individual began an Internet crusade by leaving music recordings on the company’s voicemail and how an entire posse of angry badvocates or are they rightful advocates? soon overloaded the phone lines at the company in question. Eventually the online mob took down the company’s voice mail system and it started to get too personal. Some people stalked outside the owner’s home (who said his company was not involved) and wanted to take pictures of employees leaving the premises. Although I did not join this online swarm attack with elevator music, songs and rants, I understood how ordinary citizens might want to retaliate. What could be worse than an online army of enraged advocates turned badvocates.
Tags: advocates, Badvocates, Mob, Online, Swarm
Weber Shandwick recently published The Good Book of Badvocacy, the first in a series of Thought Leadership “mini-books.” As you might have guessed, The Good Book is all about badvocacy. Take a look and let us know what you think!
