"iconic British brand" Pontins falls - Victim of the power of Social Media
To anyone following the Huge growth of Social Media over the last few years, the news of Pontins, going into administration may not come as a surprise. This is despite being a strong Business, as described by accountancy firm KPMG.
The story in today's Daily Mail (click here for the full story) interestingly states that while Pontin’s has enjoyed a revival in recent years, customers have been appalled at what they see as a lack of investment. One user, who goes by the name of gl1tangerine, posted a video on the YouTube website, (click here to see the video), saying ‘people need to know how bad this place is’
This clearly demonstrates how Social media has given enormous power to the 'normal' people to have their message delivered so swiftly to hundreds of thousands of people which in turn influences people’s perception negatively or positively about a brand or a company however iconic or well loved they may be.
This demonstrates that Companies that fail to engage socially online maybe in danger of going out of business.
Most companies on Twitter, Facebook, etc... , like Pontins, are broadcasting (in other words 'Advertsing') rather than engaging with people socially. Engaging Socially means to ...
However, some companies that are actively participating socially on Social Media, have enjoyed enormous success (e.g. Zappos, Starbucks, etc...) . They even welcome negative comments. Importantly, they see this as an opportunity to put it right in front of thousands of people.
From way back in time, it seems, there has always been a right way and a wrong way of doing things.
