Hopefully you’ve realized by now that highly successful Affiliates (like you, we hope) are utilizing a mix of minisites, landing pages, blogs, and all forms of social media. Reaching out and not only using SEM and SEO to attract customers but engaging with those customers wherever they are. What is it that we know that the Knoxville Police Department doesn’t yet?
Well, the Knoxville PD don’t “get it” today.. But I’d bet within a few days they will. A blogger noticed a significant uptick in routine traffic stops in East Knoxville and blogged about it. This was spotted by a blogger for KnoxNews.com who decided to email the Knoxville PD with a question. The response is amazing in not only it’s condesention of those of us that understand the Internet… But also in an obvious ploy to “nip this in the bud” instead of being open, honest, and engaging with the public in Knoxville.
Michael Silence of KnoxNews.com reports… “I e-mailed KPD spokesman Darrell DeBusk and asked him to address Smith’s questions.
What I got back from DeBusk was a bit surprising: “We do not respond to blog postings. If we were to respond to blogs we would need to create a new position just to keep up with all of the comments. Legitimate questions posed to the department by our citizens will be answered. Responding to opinions and computer chatter will not change perceptions or opinions,” he wrote in an e-mail to me.”
Uhhhh.. What?!?!? A LOCAL blogger (Helen Smith, a Knoxville forensic psychologist who blogs as Dr. Helen) makes a simple observation. A reporter for a LOCAL (Knoxville Sentinal’s Michael Silence) asks a question derived from that posting to the LOCAL Knoxville PD. And although it could be time consuming to respond to LOCAL questions posed, wouldn’t it be wiser to recognize that in being upfront, honest, and engaging with the LOCAL reporter may just take care of the hundreds of queries that will be arriving in the email box of the Knoxville PD over the next few days? Let alone this post showed up on FARK, Twitter, and Facebook?
The lesson for Affiliate Marketers? It is NEVER inappropriate to actively engage with your customers. And let there be no doubt that anybody responding or inquiring of your Social Media accounts is highly likely to become a customer. The upside is that by engaging with your customers you are strengthening ALL of your efforts. And if you should decide to ignore or send flippant responses like the Knoxville Police Department?
You may end up on FARK… Kinda like the entry for the Knoxville Police Department:
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