An article caught my eye as I was catching up on my recent issue of BtoB Marketing Magazine. Paul Gillin wrote a short piece about the recent battle between Consumerist.com and Dell (I’d link to the article, but couldn’t find it online).

I could be the last person in the blog world to read about this (it already has 1,687 Diggs), but in case I’m not I’ll give a brief recap. Consumerist.com posted a list of tips, supposedly written by a former Dell employee, about how to get the best deals from Dell. Dell’s legal department jumped in and demanded the post be removed. Talk about a bad move! The story instantly got legs and social media took over - which meant bad news for Dell.

But, in the span of one social media interaction Dell displayed what not to do and what you absolutely should do. Dell’s blog - Direct2Dell.com written by Lionel Menchaca - posted a response to the what happened. The post was honest, down to earth and instantly took the legs out from under the story. The first line says it all:

“Now’s not the time to mince words, so let me just say it… we blew it.”

Bingo! I liked this story because it hit me at a time when I’m putting together thoughts for handling blog comments for the company at which I will be launching our social media site. One thought that crossed my mind was if Dell would have been better off if their legal department and blog had not responded at all or if they’re better because their legal department screwed up and the blog responded. The social media world is quick to hammer mistakes, but also quick to praise good PR moves. These are two very opposite ends of the spectrum.

My thoughts are if you’re going to open yourself up to social media meaning blogging, RSS, podcasts, etc. you have to be prepared to interact with ‘constructive’ negativity at times. Corporate blogs are no different. If you don’t interact, you instantly become a brochure that won’t keep people coming back.

My advice - be prepared for the possibility that someone wants to post content that could diminish your brand. Have a plan - sort of a ‘disaster recovery’ plan - and be ready. Remember, good PR can come from bad PR.

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