Today's Guest Post is from Tadeusz Szewczyk alias “Tad Chef” of onreact.com Suchmaschinenoptimierer is Germany’s most notorious white hat SEO, assaulting outdated SEO practices since 2004. He messes with the Internet since 1997 though and therefore has all the scars of a web developer and not only online publisher after more than 10 years of advanced nerdism.
The single biggest obstacle for businesses that deal with social media or even the Internet is that companies try to hide as much as they can.
When the metaphor of the global village was first introduced it was more of a joke but today we know that's it's true. Everybody in the global village knows or can potentially find out about you and your business. In case they can't it's often even worse as it seems that you really are hiding something. For example, in a small village where there is only one bakery people might know that the baker beats his wife and still buy their bread there. Some have no choice without a car. On the Web there are enough competitors they can go to.
Many businesses have something to hide. For example:
- exploitation in China
- child labor
- toxic waste
This just scratches the surface. Other uglier stuff is out there. There are also still many businesses who don't have to hide. Those businesses try to stay afloat without resorting to unlawful or despicable behavior. Nonetheless many businesses hide.
- They won't tell the public about their latest success.
- They won't ask for feedback.
- They won't show off their latest ideas.
- They are afraid.
- They don't know.
- They hide out of tradition.
Even modern corporations like Google hide. They would rather talk with the Chinese dictatorship behind closed doors then to settle censorship issues and be really open about it. The more you hide the worse it gets. Google can still afford it but the tide of bad press becomes bigger and bigger. The privacy backlash is so huge by now that they are frantically attempting to counter the prevailing anti-Google sentiment. This is also the one of the main reasons to stand up against China.
The days of hiding are over. Those who don't hide have a competitive advantage. Dell used to be the prototypical Web failure. You just needed to mention Dell support and everybody laughed already. Dell was the nerd with the "kick me" sign on his back. Today Dell is everybody's darling. They are the true Web innovator, not Apple. Apple acts like a cult; Dell acts like a democratic entity.
- They even launch new products based on consumer feedback on Dell Ideastorm.
- Dell is the only company that already managed to earn millions on Twitter.
- They rule the search results for their own products.
The people can suggest and vote for new Dell products. This way Dell found some new niches like affordable Linux laptops. Competitors could have come up with Ubuntu laptops as well but they haven't. Even if they did who knows whether their clients would have wanted them. So what's the use of hiding? You have nothing to hide unless you actually do.
So instead of hiding try these:
- business blogging
- social media outreach and participation
- feedback communities
Or at least send out press releases each time you are proud of your achievements. In case you aren't and you rather invest in exploitation in China, child labor, toxic waste make sure to fix that quick or I'll come after you with all my influence. Using it for Greenpeace for instance. I might be even working for your competition.
Photo Credit: 2491095803
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tagged as company information, company secrets, finding information on companies, hidden information, privacy issues, SEO 2.0, Tadeusz Szewczyk, transparency, transparency at corporations
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Very true. Sad to think that Google, the Internet giant, is actually hiding when all the businesses who have adopted their applications as well as social media around them are trying to be more transparent.
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