No Social Media Monitoring By Apple Or Wells Fargo Yet Still Successful

Tom, I'm afraid you're right.

Hi Tom,

a lot’s happened since your post in June last year about Wells Fargo and our listening to Social Media. We do have an active listening program, which we use to better understand customer needs and to look for opportunities to help. Last November, we went beyond listening to response, by entering comments on personal blogs, thanking customers and offering assistance to customers that reported problems. We extended that program beyond personal blogs this year by actively listening and participating on Twitter, where we have over 2500 followers (see twitter.com/ask_wellsfargo).

We’ve had great experience working with customers this way, but the program is early (dare I say, “beta” ;-), so we can’t respond to everything. We do believe listening and responding to customers in social media is important. It’s where our customers spend time, and we want to reach them where they are.

Ed: Thanks! Wells Fargo is certainly listening :)

"So, is it best just to ignore any criticisms? It sure seems that way - which is bad news for all the social media marketing gurus if that's the case."

I will probably get flamed for saying this-but yes. Sometimes it’s best to not fan the fire.

Your second point about social media--I work for the multi billion dollar chip equipment industry in Silicon Valley-but web 2.0 DOES NOT EXIST for us. And while we were pummeled by the recession and are just (hopefully) starting to recover I fail to see how all the twittering and facebooking in the world would have helped us ride out the fall any better. Social media experts like all other "experts" amplify the importance of their field to the detriment of anything else.

I wrote a post about this topic a few days ago. It can be found here http://tinyurl.com/lj8drt, with an excerpt below ...

Legendary marketers of yore [both fake and real] – the Don Drapers and Berry Gordys of the world – must be shocked at the power shift in the consumer-brand dynamic.

Draper eschewed market research for his own instinct – that’s what he was paid for. And do you think Gordy – the legend behind Motown – would have considered even for a second consulting Twitter as he was developing The Jackson 5, Smokey Robinson or The Supremes?

Something’s changed on Madison Avenue. A prolonged recession combined with the rise of social media seems to have put the destiny and direction of brands in the hands of a vocal few.

Brands seem, well, scared of their customers these days. And the resulting action of that fear is not always positive.

Anon: You are right, Web 2.0 comms wouldn't help the chip equipment industry rise from a deep recession. It's more about raising the visibility of individual companies against their competitors. There is value in that type of activity.

Tom - I agree with the basic sentiment here though I think that correlating Apple's cash and Wells Fargo's current EPS with their (lack of) social media participation is an oversimplification.

Both of these companies could benefit by listening and responding to customers. Just because they're moving product doesn't mean they can't benefit from being more attuned to customers.

Joseph: I agree but Apple chooses not to respond and I have no idea if it monitors the media. It's lack of action says a lot about how much it takes its customers for granted. But we all know that a lack of hubris will eventually bring down successful companies.

It has always astounded me that Apple has had its focus on denial when it comes to service resulting from product defects. Perhaps it helps the bottom line more than it hurts the sales line at the Apple store. It has certainly provided fodder for IT people in school Districts intent on killing the Mac platform, however.

My next problem company is Bank of America which is providing less interest than promised on an account. So for, dealing with B of A makes dealing with Apple look easy. At least Apple will contact you back with a denial of service.