Wyatt flies the flag for the Midlands!

Everyone here at Wyatt is celebrating the news that we have been ranked as the top B2B agency in the Midlands by B2B Marketing magazine!

The national agency league table shows Wyatt in 16th place nationally, up two places on last year. As the only Midlands based company on the 40 strong list, Wyatt is clearly positioned as the leading B2B agency in the region.

We strive to obtain consistently high results for our clients and this success has been reflected in the continued top 20 placement in the league table.

Along with this exciting development, we can also announce that we have been nominated for a CIPR internal communications and employee engagement award for our work with Saint-Gobain PAM UK.

We hope to bring you news from the awards set to take place on Friday, 3rd December, but in the mean time, follow us on Twitter to stay up-to-date with what's happening behind our big orange door and beyond!

Social media – the issue of control

Pootling around the BBC News website, I happened upon the interesting ‘Twitter and Facebook aid small firms’ which sparked a desire to blog. Not because of the main theme – who hasn’t heard of the baker who tweets when the bread’s fresh? – but because of the ‘expert’ opinion on the issue of control.

Online, the draconian moderation of blog, photo and video comments amounts to professional suicide. Simply put, if a disgruntled customer takes umbrage with your service online and you delete their comment, you validate it. The disgruntled customer remains un-placated and other visitors to your blog, twitter or profile will wonder where it went. “Could it have been deleted because it was true and Company X wants to sweep it under the carpet?” they’ll think.

The full quote from Professor Sundararajan could be dangerously misleading. "You are losing control of your message by inviting customers in to a dialogue and that could be problematic if they criticise you." Is he implying that criticisms must therefore be quickly quashed by removal? Some might make that inference. If they do, they’re doomed.

'Janet' responds to wall feedback on a Dell special offer - and will no doubt soon act to mollify Ms Corradin

Dell's Facebook page also allows new 'discussion' topics to be posted - whatever the subject

Many thought Dell was doomed when their Twitter feed was bombarded with complaints of non-delivery, missing parts, poor customer service. It would have been tempting to shut the feed down in an attempt to save face, but anyone can see that would have achieved the reverse. Instead of controlling the situation through censorship, they managed the situation through mediation.

Each customer was responded to personally; still today, Twitter and the sister Facebook company page are sounding boards for those unhappy with Dell’s service; but they’re responded to either individually or as a group where there is a common concern. Balanced with special offers, competitions, news and stunts, the page is not overrun with complaints – but they’re still visible. What’s even more important is that the measured, helpful and personal responses are also visible. Even with the negative posts, social media is enhancing Dell’s reputation – without the need for airbrushing and dictatorship.

Comments from followers are the lifeblood of social media. It shows your followers are truly engaged with your content and are sharing that content further afield. That they’re really listening, rather than just following.

Disallowing or censoring comments is seen as dishonest and deceitful in a social media landscape that strips companies bare, revealing their personalities and ‘true colours’. Losing a small amount of control over content could prove to be the most beneficial thing to your online reputation – you could even overtake Dell as the poster child for free speech on Facebook.