Communicating Your Corporate Values

We talk about authenticity a lot and I think that is very key. I think we need to think about how to showcase who we are, our values, what we’re about and we need to get better at that. I talk about Lady Gaga in my new book and she’s very upfront with her values and what she believes in about anti-bullying and about having her fans be the best people they can be by showcasing who they are. Companies need to do the same. Now we have this great tool: social media. We need to think about who we are and how do we showcase that because people love that kind of thing. They want to know who we are, who the people are behind the great company and products so let’s show them.

One of the biggest blunders I’m still seeing and I’m actually shocked is back when social media started there are companies trying to control what their customers say on social media and for the most of it a lot of it has died down. Many companies realize you can’t control what people say; however I’m starting to see it back again. I actually just wrote a Forbes article about a hotel who was fining customers $500 for any YELP review they wrote that was negative and this is a disaster! These types of things go viral and not the good type of viral so do not try to control what customers say on social media about your company. You can apologize, you can try to make up for it – we all make mistakes. To have a policy where you’re trying to fine customers and be overt on controlling what people say is an absolute disaster, a no-no. So don’t go that far, instead monitor, see what people are saying, respond, if you do something bad- apologize, if they say something great – thank them.