Don’t Believe Your Own PR! or You Are Talking to the Wrong People!
Recently I had access to analytic tools that are able to measure the “sentiment” out there on the web and in the blogosphere. Having a background in financial services I was interested in knowing what emotions were swirling around ten of the top retail investor sites. What I discovered was that – for all but one new site – the mainstream media seems to be telling the story that the financial services companies want to hear. However, the blogosphere, where most of their customers presumably are, is telling a different story.
When I combined the positive and neutral sentiments, Charles Schwab, TD Ameritrade, Scottrade, TradeKing, Vanguard, Fidelity, ShareBuilder and OptionsXpress were up at the 99 – 100 percent approval mark in the mainstream media. However, on the blogs, TD Ameritrade was only at a 53 percent approval mark, TradeKing was at 73 percent, OptionsXpress at 85 percent and Charles Schwab at 87 percent. E-trade was the lowest of the big name retail investor sites in terms of approval in the mainstream media (86 percent) but this was fairly close to the 81 percent rating in the blogosphere. Only ShareBuilder and Vanguard had close to identical sentiment in both areas. A newcomer, Zecco, had the poorest rating in the mainstream media (66 percent) but ranked number 5 in the overall standings on the blogosphere.
The moral of the story: Stop trying to spin the wrong people and listen to your customers! Those negative comments might help you improve your service. Solving problems and addressing issues builds goodwill and brings new business.
(SCHW:NASDAQ, ETFC:NASDAQ, AMTD:NASDAQ, OXPS:NASDAQ)
Similar Posts:
- Vanguard Dips its Toes into Social Media (with One Eye on FINRA and the SEC)
- The Net Promoter Score and the Financial Services Industry.
- Product Launches in the Age of Social Media
- The Social CRM Debate: What is it? And are the Two Terms Really Compatible?
- Financial Services & Social Media
