So I’m smack in the middle of my vacation with the extended family (intentionally without cellphone/laptop) enjoying the rustic scene at in Goa, India. Then, disaster strikes. My faithful Sony camcorder, with which I’ve captured many memories/antics during our travels, starts to act up for no apparent reason. Of course, this had to happen miles away from anything except palm trees and the clear blue sea. I should be relaxed in sheer bliss, but now I’m stressing out trying to get the *&^% thing to work. And hey, I’m an engineer, so I’m consumed with finding an immediate solution to the problem (driving the rest of the clan crazy in the bargain). My four-year old is going on his first ride on an elephant, and I’m getting a “C:31:23” error…
What’s all this got to do with Web Presence Management…and what is WPM, you may ask? There was a time when your brand’s web presence was on a simple multi-page, static brochure-ware website. You built it and visitors/customers came. But then traffic that mattered tapered off, despite your best efforts to keep things dynamic. So what happened? Fast-forward a few years, and you find that of the important “fish” are now in their own favorite ponds. Your customers – and potential leads — talk about you “out there”. Often enough to spread the word – good or bad – about you. Perhaps some of these words catch your attention. More likely, though, the conversations may never reach you (or even worse, spiral out of control and come to your attention too late).
Back to the beach. Luckily enough, India has leapfrogged an entire telecom generation, avoiding laying out swathes of fixed-line copper infrastructure. So while most folks across the country have no idea about DSL/broadband access except in the major cities, you’ll come across locals in the remotest corners of the country abusing their mobile phones to the utmost. My mobile warrior was Anthony, one of the colorful local fishermen (in the photo) whom I had befriended for our daily source of fresh nutrients, and who supposedly used his connection to get local weather and find out where the fish were en masse. Before you could say the words “fresh fish!”, Anthony had me connected to outside world and (whew!) the Internet. Normally, if technical difficulties had struck in one of the big metros, I would’ve called a Sony service center and got the camcorder repaired under warranty by a technician. Given my remote location, I went to the Sony website for help. This was like trying to find a specific seashell somewhere along the seven miles of beach stretching out on either side of where I sat with my toes in the sand.
My next step, which in retrospect should obviously have been the first one, was to type in “C:31:23” in my search engine of choice. Voila…links to scores of discussion forums and communities/blogs with people sharing the same problem. A quick glance at the top few results seem to suggest the BEST SOLUTION is to remove the power and — I quote verbatim from just one of the threads here: “…This may seem silly, but it worked for me. Try smacking the side of the camera relatively hard with the palm of your hand. Eject the tape and reinsert. You may need to do this a couple of times.” I was a bit leery about whacking my $1000+ camcorder with what was clearly not a very “engineering” solution, but hey…I was ready to try anything. After confirming that several users also shared the same opinion (no doubt with varying degrees of success) I directed a fair share of my pent-up frustration on the hapless machine. Yes, this has a happy ending! I was immediately back in business, again capturing loads of video action (much to family’s chagrin, but that’s another story…).
Take Away: It’s time to acknowledge the changing reality around us and do something about it. Sony has a lot going for it, but a lot of bad buzz floating out there too. It’s never too late to smack your web presence back into shape so it does what it’s intended to do: Bring in the best leads, help monitor — and quickly respond to — the good (and any bad) buzz around you, and ultimately improve your brand image and bottom line. If you agree, sign up for a free consultation today. See how you can create and implement an effective strategy for your web presence going forward.
PS: At the very least, you now know of a low-cost (and low-tech, albeit therapeutic) method to repair any of your seemingly high-tech electronic gadgetry that may malfunction in the future.
