tdhurst

(you can call me tyler)
“It's time to stop hiding behind brands, corporate policies or the way things used to be. Evolve. Get better. Let's learn from each other. It's called the Collaboration Revolution. Welcome to the Relationship Age.” - Tyler Hurst

Dear Corporate America: Show us that we matter

Hello, corporate America. I’m a consumer. You have no idea who I am. For years, this hasn’t mattered to you. I’ve needed what you’ve produced and I had no way of speaking to or standing up to you.

But things have changed.

You are no longer the shining star of the American economy, you are a necessary annoyance we must put up with. You’re faceless, soulless and usually only donate to save money on your taxes. And we don’t trust you.

You think you’re better than us, or at least your ads seem to say that. We don’t like to be yelled at anymore, we just want to talk. Seriously, that’s it. You have people working for you, how about asking them to? There are still some people left, right?

Try Twitter. Write a blog. Produce a podcast.

You can’t ignore us anymore. You can’t pretend that we don’t matter. You can’t sit in your tall buildings and cavort with your $2MM/yr ad companies and your $500/hr lawyers without us noticing.

You’re being exposed and that freaks you out. Instead of embracing us, US, your loyal consumers, you are fighting to control your message. The more you do, the more you’ll lose.

Let us know you still like us. Let us know you appreciate us. Talk to us on Facebook, don’t buy ads. Share your stories on BlogHer, don’t hire writers. Show us that you know we’re not stupid.

If you don’t, I’m going to connect with your clients. I’m going to talk to your customers. I’m going to show them that they don’t need you anymore.

Unless you produce a good that we can’t live without, I’m going to make you irrelevant. Sure, you’ll still be in business, but I’ll have your mindshare.

Or you could show us that we matter.

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  • I had my first real run-in with this today. It made me so angry that this individual, as a brand, thought that commenting or interacting with their consumers was "beneath them" and reflected poorly on their professionalism. Yet, they don't understand why their social media following isn't growing. I'm not demanding constant attention, but recognizing I'm your consumer and I'm of value to you would be nice.
  • Tyler, you're right. But allow me to say that you restated the obviousness, which is that big companies don't care about their customer's experiences.

    Corporate America doesn't give a shit about people.They care about numbers. What makes them change business models? Numbers. What do investors care about? Numbers. It's all about making it to the next quarter.

    They still act like media and people can be gamed and manipulated. 99% of the "social media success stories" that companies have are all about reacting to customer experiences. Those aren't successful -- that's merely damage control. That's old-school and nobody cares about that.

    Example: Who remembers the United Airlines "Breaks Guitar" fiasco. Did their response get any coverage or acknowledgement from real people -- NO. People only remember that UAL ignored a customers' request after multiple attempts to bypass policy to amend a process. Reactive efforts only go so far.

    This is primarily due to fact the baby-boomer generation still holds positions in high places in big companies. Once Gen-X/Y takes over, companies will evolve and come to the reality that people aren't stupid. Look at most startups that are privately funded and doing well -- all under the age of 40.

    When it comes to big companies, they get a big fat "F" for social media or simply consumer experience. I can't recall ONE publicly traded company that I have loyalty for. That's pathetic and is a reflection of the state of American companies.

    I once worked for a big company and trust me, as much as customers built the equity of the company, I was the minority who actually gave a crap about users. Naturally the overall attitude against customers perturbed me and receiving my severance check was the best thing that happened to me.


    ~Joe
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