Never forget the fate of Sir Cloudesley Shovel. He was the British Admiral, who in 1707 managed to steer an entire fleet onto rocks near the Scillies. Despite being the most respected officer of his day, he ignored warnings that his ships were dangerously off course, including the urgent pleas of one crew member, who had smelt the burning kelp pits which were so synonymous with Scilly.
I was reminded of Sir Cloudesley’s fate when reading Robin Grant‘s latest blog, in which he quotes a new report, which claims that only 16% of US companies have any routine system in place for monitoring what people are saying about them or their brands online. Given how easy it is in this day and age to monitor conversations taking place in social media – and if you still need convincing, I suggest you spend some time with Robin and his team – the remaining 84% are either very lazy or guilty of Shovel-like complacency. The fact that both Unilever and P&G are investing heavily in this area underlines how listening to what your customers are saying about you in social media should be a priority for every business.
The original CMO survey, which inspired Robin’s blog, includes some other useful facts and figures for those of us trying to convince clients that they need to change the way they operate and organise themselves, in response to consumer empowerment. Predictably, the most significant finding is that there is no single person taking responsibility for customer conversations across most organisations. Corporate affairs, customer services, IT and marketing all own a piece of the action, but without anyone in overall control, it is hardly surprising that most companies are failing to monitor customer feedback in a systematic way.