Feedback has dual meanings in a way. Feedback could mean responses communicated from the receiving party of some interaction that can critique or help improve future interactions but feedback can also just be noise that disrupts a process or isn’t useful (like spam comments).
I’ve been thinking about feedback ever since Gary brought up leaving comments in class. I recently went on something of a commenting spree mostly because I felt guilty for not commenting before and wanted to give others some constructive feedback. On the karmic flip side of that, I haven’t really gotten many comments either. I know people look at my blog sometimes because wordpress shows me that, but I’d love to know what people THINK of it. It’s like getting people to taste food that I make, they might really like (or absolutely hate) it but if they don’t say anything, how would I know? Tasting it is only the first step.
I’ve also actually found that looking at other people’s work and giving them suggestions has helped me come up with more ideas, I’ve come up with a number of my own posts that way. It’s like a weird form of collaboration for me. And maybe it helps them too, I don’t really know. I hope I’m not just blowing hot air in my comments. I try to be kind and genuine with my feedback so yeah, I hope it helps.Moral of the story: feedback is a two way street.
I’ve been playing with the concept of two-way feedback between Volkswagen and users or drivers. How would it work? A hotline like someone else came up with? Or maybe a social media interaction? Hmm, is VW on twitter? Well I just went and looked, and boy could that twitter account use some work. Just searching the hashtag #VWcares brings up a somewhat alarming number of tweets about poor customer care and maintenance issues. While the official Volkswagen USA twitter does reply to some of these, it appears to be mostly giving people with problems links to their website or thanking the people saying positive things about VW. As far as I can tell, this isn’t really constructive two-way feedback and reads mostly like costumer service hotline prompts. Maybe they could take a lesson from Taco Bell. Social Media is a fantastic advertising platform, or at least it can be. Encouraging and engaging in feedback is a great tool for fostering a brand identity that Volkswagen USA is underusing and it’s a damn shame. They need to build that presence and my idea isn’t really an idea so much as a display of that improved feedback, but it would be cool to have a slideshow-style collection of tweets praising VW presented as an ad and formatted the way that reviews from credible sources are presented (Like the black screen with a narrator reading the quote printed in white). Doing that and saying something like “the people have spoken” is a fun way to maybe play up the idea that the users matter. It’s VW saying “your everyday motoring pleasure matters to us,” which is really what creates a recurring user base (besides having enduring value, that’s a major component too). People will come back to a brand they think cares about them.
Maybe this one is a stretch. Maybe this is making the brand something it’s not. I want to go back to the posts about fun and silliness and the things I want VW to embody. I’m not trying to change the brand here, that’s not my job. I’m just here to grow the brand. Maybe I’m overstepping and it’s time to backtrack to stabler ground now.
Copy Write Paste 