Criticism is always difficult to take but it’s a fact of life. And I know I bang on about the need for a change in attitude to brand management at a time when any old member of the public can manipulate your image and defame.
It takes a lot to shut up and say nothing. And it can be tempting to dismiss the ordinary punter's comment as unimportant and not bother to listen.
There is evidence that the big Australian marketers know this. But what I found remarkable when recently researching a story on the rules of social media, was how few were ready or willing to talk.
The thing is the bigger you are the more criticism you will hear.
Recently I was lucky enough to talk to Kristen Boschma, head of online and social media at Telstra, about how the company deals with it. She knows that if you are engaging with the internet crowd that you need thick skin and need very big ears.
What Telstra does is feedback what it hears to business units, which can then adapt their offers – if they think there is a need to.
Call it free market research, although it’s not free at all because it takes a lot of resources to monitor what’s happening on the internet.
It’s become a huge cost dealing with the social media side as Christine Hooper, group executive marketing at Eagle Boys, recently told AdNews. But while Eagle Boys has doubled its digital budget I can’t help but feel it’s buried its head in the ground by concentrating on SEO and online ordering.