Do the right thing please, Menteri Besar Mohamad Hasan
Posted on 05. Nov, 2009 by Franz in Cultures
“Negri (Negri Sembilan) govt to monitor websites, blogs which ‘lie’” made into The Star newspaper shamelessly.
Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan said they will (or probably already did) set up a team to monitor blogs around Malaysia (and probably the world, too) that spread “lies” about the government.
Oh come on.
You definitely haven’t learnt your lesson – Just like ELAWYERS at the beginning of this year, MSC Malaysia during Netbash 2009, Consocia8 during the Govt 2.0 in New York and best of all, politicians around Malaysia. How I wish Asohan can blog about this – Not just tweet.
Let me fill you in a little with some of my bad experiences in reputation management. Back then when we received an assignment – A big brand in Malaysia is looking to exclude (and also run away from) bad press on search engines. I must say this is definitely my first, and don’t quite like it. You can read about what happened there in my previous blog post titled “Reputation Management Horror“.
I’d love to yap all day and diss everyone else about everything but I’m going to keep it short and concise:
- Time will not be on your side. A content can go viral in minutes and capture the attention of hundreds of thousands in just less than an hour or so. Ask me, I’ve seen that personally. Even if you want to take them down by law, you need ‘DAYS’, not ‘HOURS’ or ‘MINUTES’.
- Reporting to the police doesn’t ‘SUSPEND’ the site. Unless you file a report, get an approved “Take down notice” from your local court, file a ‘remove site’ exclusion to Google/Yahoo/Bing/Baidu in their search results, it’ll probably take forever.
- You cannot stop a network of ‘liars’ as long as men have tongues. You take one person down, another emerges. You take another gang leader off the hook, more will sprout. So why don’t you handle the core problem first? Saves everyone a lot of time.
- The ‘credibility’ of the government is probably ‘you’, because ‘your’ ‘ego’ ‘may be tarnished’. A government is like a company, or a brand. Its clients are the Rakyat. So why are you blaming your clients for their dismay of your bad service? Would you ’slap’ your customer (think employee) and bitch-watch them because they complain about certain things?
- People fall for your ‘bloggers” lies because you DIDN’T do anything to RECTIFY the problem. Customer service is simple – You don’t give them an answer, they’ll desperately look for alternatives and trust the first thing that enters their ear. Oh wait, the Malaysian citizenship cannot just be revoked like a service. You win.
- Critiques are people who praise and criticize on a particular subject. If your critiques are ‘blatantly lying while criticizing’, so where do you think the problem is at? In their heads? Think logically. This method is so bad for business.
- The state’s legal adviser who recommends/suggests/commands what type of action would be taken against those who spread libel better be taking his/her BSc. in Internet & International laws first. Don’t make the 3rd-world-country-shame-press-statement like what ELAWYERS made on YouTube videos and copyright policies.
- Youngsters prefer the Internet because there are no boundaries. Face it – If one person takes a pen and write it down on the newspaper he just read, would anyone notice it? Probably not. They have a voice. And they dare to talk. That’s why there is Facebook, Twitter & Web 2.0.
Of course, I apologize if I made any ‘harsh’ statements about your team, your clients or..? Let me be a proper gentleman and provide you some solutions to these problems:
- Set up THREE (3) teams – One “Research”, one “Comm” and a team of “customer service reps” (I’m sure a ‘company’ of your stature has customer service people).
- The research team does these: Monitor “keywords” to your brand names, collect information (surveys, interviews, general blogs about your brand, etc.) E.G. “Negri Sembilan”, “Negeri Sembilan”, “Mohd Hasan” or “Menteri Besar Mohd Hasan”. These are not the keywords but I’m sure you’re well aware of what you’re looking for. Oh and if you’re Internet illiterate, you can try Google Alerts to help you out. =)
- The comm team does these: Engage and join in the conversation of these people. “ADAPT” to their culture and community, share views and ideas about what’s good and bad about things and life. Once they’re comfortable, spread your brand’s ‘good news’. That’s their job.
- The customer service reps do these: Engage your fellow ‘critiques’, ‘liars’, ‘terrorists’ or ‘infidels’, whichever you like to tag them as, then solve their problems or provide them corrective action. Oh, remember. Your ‘marketing’ budget is highest here because you need to ’settle’ their problems and answer their questions; in which could require a lot of ‘reorganization’ of how your management handle your ‘products’.
With these management-style, you not only:
- Research Team – Settle all your questions about what people are talking about you (don’t they need monitoring?), ask their opinions on matters bothering them, run ‘product improvement’ surveys and finally get to document it and show it to your boss. I mean, wouldn’t he love to see his subordinates settle problems for him? =)
- Comm Team – Gain new friends, come closer to the Rakyat and online community. Imagine a menteri besar talking to a regular Rakyat like me. I would be thrilled! Even comb my hair (I don’t comb). With this, you build trust among you and your clients.
- Customer Service Team – Your team actively engages in the community but you help them solve mysteries and run after sales! What product could go better than that? I’m sure then everyone would want to be your client. Your boss would be surprised to see you tying the friendship knot with your clients!
My point is:
There is no fast and easy way to solve mysteries, problems and find solutions. But at the end of the day, you need to take a step back, look at things in a broader scale and lower your ego.
This way, you not only make a new friend, but you’ll also impress your superiors. And if God can be so merciful to give you life, why can’t you give your clients another chance to love you back? If you don’t, that equals not forgiving.
Settle this the right way, Menteri Besar, I implore thee. Plain monitoring alone give you more agitation than comfort.
