The Anti-Customer

The social networks have brought out individuals with a wide range of social aptitude. For some, this may be their only outlet -- the only place where it's possible for a group of people to hear them or take them seriously. The beauty of the medium is that it's here for everyone and anyone. All you need is a computer and the ability to push some buttons. But that certainly doesn't mean the author has any ability to engage with other users or deliver anything worth reading. But that doesn't prevent them from trying.

When I last read the book "Tipping Point" I had the frame of mind that people who become connectors or salespeople have a basic desire to influence other people in a positive way.

Silly.

As marketers, it's our job to win someone over to the "good" side. It's not that often that we think about the detractors who are trying to do just the opposite. I've recently encountered this with a corporate blog. We love our fans, our fans love us. It seems like the right time and opportunity for brands to host forums to share that love. But some of the "salespeople" in the group aren't always happy or interested in seeing that brand succeed.

Why would someone claim to be a fan of something, then try to persuade others that they should rally against it? It's as if the indignant few are hoping to expose some foul injustice and someday the wronged will become victorious.

Maybe its like that old car in high school -- you couldn't afford the car you really wanted, so it was cool to tell everyone that you hated your car. "My car sucks." So you didn't wash it, never changed the oil, filled it with empty Mountain Dew bottles...and it kept running. You didn't know until later how much you loved that car. Today you might tell someone, "I had this old car and it never owed me a thing...if only I knew then..."

So now as we try and market a brand or a product, there are forces working against the positive influence we are trying to create -- able to vocalize their disdain for the topic at lightening speed with little impunity. Maybe they're just grumpy. Maybe they need a friend. But will I ever be able to win them over? No...at least not by myself.

So, we'll continue to find ourselves in strange debates with otherwise innocuous people that somehow pushed our buttons today.