What Are They Afraid of?

When you use social media for communication you have to be open to all of it.

Recently I made my first entrance to an MLM venture. I loved the concept and the cutting edge marketing approach. The months of build up were exciting and the Efusjon Energy Club grew significantly. In July, the big day hit for the Facebook marketing app that was to be the cutting edge approach to product placement and marketing in social media. It was DOA.

The game RAD was BAD and the noise began from the distributors. The figure head (Derek Broes) who was the driving cult of personality fueling the growth and excitement suddenly disappeared from Facebook for the first two weeks of the application. Wild rumors began.

A notice was distributed, not addressing the most pressing question of what happened to RAD and Derek, rather stating that compensation plans were going to be negatively adjusted. The club was full of energy being released in Facebook posts. Some posts were very supportive of the company and some were viciously opposed to the changes and the over-promised and under-delivered Facebook game app that was supposed to be the driving marketing force in social media.

The big mistake happened when someone representing Efusjon told people in the Facebook media essentially, if they didn't like the club anymore please stop following them on Facebook and there was no need for the negative comments. Within a day that lengthy conversation string on Facebook was removed by efusjon.

What are they afraid of?

When an organization engages in social media for business purposes the concept is open communication and the worst thing you can do is attempt to censor that communication. Censorship of an open forum speaks of fear; it speaks of a company not savvy in the media they are only happy to use when it's all good news.

The town hall meetings are falling into the same category. People are using the public forums to sound off their concerns and opinions; something elected officials should and have been listening to for years. It is how they get in touch with their constituents, the people they represent. But, because of the volatility and the numbers showing up for the town hall meetings politicians are claiming rabble-rouser groups are stoking the flames of discontent or some politicians are not having the events at all.

What are they afraid of?

As a leader it is critical to stay in touch with your employees or followers not only when things are all running well, but when there are concerns. People want to hear from leadership they respect. They want to find someone they can trust and believe in. Leaders have the opportunity to gain better credibility in the tough times by how they respond to the problems and concerns they are responsible to correct.

Removing social media comment strings and blowing off intensely negative feedback in meetings doesn't build leadership -- it builds fear.

What are you building with your communications in your organization?