Why social media is like democracy

The amazing thing about social web is that it reflects the democracy that is America.

Okay, maybe I'm saying this because I turned in my early vote today, but as a business, small or large, every customer counts. This is more true today where any customer can get on the web and tell the world what they think about you on Yelp, Get Satisfaction, The Consumerist, and YouTube.

This means that every customer, whether they do or not, has the chance to throw in their vote for or against your business, service, or product. Unlike democracy, some votes will mean more than others, particularly the negative votes if they have any merit.

However, it is because of the social web that many businesses can feel the love of things they are doing right and correct what they are getting wrong. And while no one likes a critic, the negative comments can give one the most opportunity to address weaknesses.

In the restaurant business, for every unsatisfied customer that speaks up, there are three more who leave never to come back again. And if customers are using the web to sing your praises, or complain, there's no reason why you can't use the web to address their concerns or build your brand by rewarding customer loyalty.

For example, Zappos, is being lauded on the web for their great business practices, as well as the company's use of social web. Their CEO is using Twitter, and as a customer, I was impressed that he took the time to answer my question - How does a CEO start using Twitter? Like anyone else, he was playing around with it with his friends and then introduced it to the company. Now many of his employees are power users.

Consumers are voting on their blogs, in their tweets, on youtube, in forums...everywhere on the web, as well as with their dollars. So get out there and campaign!

This post was written for a project I'm working on for the Sloan Center of Internet Retailing. Check back to see when the Ning site goes live for the latest research on Web 2.0!