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Oct 16 2009

Crisis Prep Before “Going Social”

October 16, 2009 – 12:15 pm
by Jim Linwood

by Jim Linwood

There’s lot of talk these days about the use of social media in responding to a crisis. Traditionalists feel that being that transparent in a crisis is just a bad idea. “Control the messages,” they shout. Others say  “Engage genuinely and quickly  – it’ll go a long way to preserving your reputation.”

Mark me down as in favor of PR people getting down to business in their organizations to incorporate the new tools now (in anticipation of their great value in a crisis). Earlier this year, the Cork’d episode convinced me. Gary Vaynerchuk’s handling was good.

While there has been traditional media coverage of the techniques, tips and tactics of social media use in a crisis, and while bloggers have given many possible uses, as Tracy Weise does in her recent blog The Side Note, there is a place to start way before the strategy and tactics of social media are considered. Consider the following:

Values work in every case. Can you make your values known and yourself more accessible using the social media tools and community you have built?

There’s a big difference between deciding and doing. Deputizing communicators, monitoring channels and acting decisively all take an extreme execution-oriented, enthusiastic mindset. Jim Clarke says just reading about execution left him a bit cold. It’s nothing without instilling enthusiasm, he argues in Business Execution: What I Learned from the High School Dance Team.

Don’t overlook what’s real. Meeting the crisis head-on is good leadership. A good leader sees the patterns in the crisis, recognizes the importance of the elements before her and has the fortitude to call reality what it is – all against the backdrop of what’s best for the group she leads.

See forests and trees. A good leader brings context to the crisis, and at the same time sees the individual pieces of the issues faced in the crisis. The ability to tap the knowledge of various members of the community is always at work, giving the leader access to the key details, but not so much as to become lost in them.

There are many roads to the same destination. The leader’s grasp of the problems in a crisis allows for far-reaching and embracing searches for solutions.

Teamwork aids success. Recovery and long-term support for solutions are dependent upon buy-in from many stakeholders, and a leader who invites questions can also be a strong leader in tough circumstances.

Ask the mutterers to speak up. While it might make it more pleasant to hear choruses of “yes!” from like-minded folks, strong leaders seek out those who bring a different perspective.

Optimistic, bold & zen. Times of crisis are full of potential to second guess, miss on execution and generate excess nervous energy. Doing the right thing, doing it boldly and allowing those second guesses to enter and leave the mind even as you are acting can be a powerful way to engage with others.

Take risk in the face of risk.  There are questions to which we do not know the answers in crises — all the better to get engaged. Take the risk of asking your community.

80 percent rule. An  imperfect decision can often be better than making no decision at all — go if you have 80% of what you think you need.

Prepare to admit mistakes. Leaders who take calculated risks will undoubtedly make mistakes at some point. (Crises require continuous decision making.)  Leaders who want to be seen as all powerful aren’t of much real use in a crisis.

Running this mental checklist before taking on the question of the use of social media in a crisis may assure that the organization has the fortitude to step into the stream.

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AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Michael Whitlow | Posted in Digital Marketing | Comments (6)
Oct 15 2009

This Halloween, Try On a New Personality

October 15, 2009 – 8:58 am

282428943_322a2027b4by Jenn Riggle

At this time of year, children across America are trying on costumes and making the all important decision – Who do they want to be for Halloween. Come to think of it, it’s also a good time for hospital communications departments to step out of their comfort zones and  decide what sort of personality their organization should have online.

Why? Because social media is less about brand and more about personal engagement. When you’re on social networking sites, you can’t just repeat your organization’s key messages  because people will stop listening. Instead, you need to hear what others are saying, engage in dialogue and provide relevant information.

Ideally, hospitals should have an individual or a team of people who contribute to Twitter and respond to questions on Facebook. But with budget cuts and limited Internet access in hospitals, this may not be feasible. So instead, they need to think about their organization’s brand identity and how this will translate online.

For example, your hospital may be known for innovation, combining high tech with high touch, being a trusted member of the community, or providing the care you need where you need it. However, none of these brands attributes will help you decide what sort of voice you should use on Twitter or whether you should post a video of employees singing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.”

Since women, long thought to be the gatekeepers of their families’ health, are one of the most important audiences for hospitals, it seems only natural that many hospitals would want to have a nurturing female voice. But you need to ask yourself specific questions, such as:

  • Are you the perky elementary school teacher who wears festive holiday sweaters and educates the community about health issues?
  • Or are you a grandmotherly-type person who bakes cookies, provides common sense health information and puts a bandage on a child’s knee when he skins it?
  • Maybe you’re a personal trainer who encourages the community to get exercise and eat healthy?
  • How about the helpful nextdoor neighbor people go to when they need a cup of sugar or help starting the lawn mower?
  • Or are you the multi-tasking working mom who’s packs school lunches at 2 a.m. and tries to be everywhere at once? (Guess which one I am?)

This can be a new beginning for your organization as you shape your identify and find new ways to talk to your employees and your community. Just don’t be afraid to try something new.

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AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Jenn Riggle | Posted in Digital Marketing | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (2)
Oct 14 2009

Using Special Olympics to Overhaul My Social Network

October 14, 2009 – 3:00 pm

by Wyatt Wood

This past weekend I participated in the first Over The Edge VA 2009 event, participants who raised $1,500 in donations for Special Olympics were given access to rappel down 25 story Suntrust building in Richmond Virginia. I had the opportunity to participate both as a rappeler and as the roof top photographer. Not only was it a rush to look over but to know I was supporting a good cause made it worth it.

I struggled converting my personal enthusiasm into my online network. I realized that my online “brand” wasn’t conducive for inspiring activism within my network. So I took this as a challenge to overhaul over my online image to help change my network into activists like myself. While I wasn’t able to hit the goal of $1500 they were gracious enough to let me go over since I was volunteering my time as a photographer. I learned so much from this experience, I am curious if a refresh of personal brand is a good thing to do on a schedule and if so – how often?

Based on my experience in social media combined with how much chatter there was on Twitter for #oterva the day of the event I was curious to know the usefulness of social media as a strategy leading up and post. I decided it would be insightful to interview the folks responsible. Kira Siddall and Adam Cunningham (seen in the picture rappelling) were influential leaders for the use of social media for this specific event and this is what they had to say:

  1. What online channels did you use or recommend?
    As a nonprofit SOVA has limited budget for traditional advertising. The event itself is already a great conversation starter, we hoped that if we could reach out to enough people to tell them about the event that the word of mouth would spread and potential participants would hear about it and sign up. Specifically, a Web site dedicated to the event, Facebook & Twitter.  Also direct email targeted to current, long-term supporters of SOVA.
  2. What was the purpose of using social media for this event?
    First: Twitter was used to engage local property managers to help locate a building for the event.  Second: Twitter & FB were used to engage individual rappellers and corporate sponsors. Third: Twitter, FB & direct email were used to build recognition of the event and it’s individual & corporate supporters to increase & amplify their fundraising efforts.
  3. How did you measure success in social media?
    Number of followers/friends & speed w/ which they signed up to follow/friend. Level of Twitter RT’s & original postings from followers/friends.  The key measure of success was how many people/corporations signed up to raise funds due to their expose to SM.
  4. What impact has this event had for awareness for Special Olympics in Virginia?
    The event had a very positive impact for SOVA’s awareness.  Two major TV stations (Channel 8 & Channel 12), The Richmond Times Dispatch, Q94 & Lite98 all promoted & covered the event.  And, in it’s first year, this event surpassed SOVA’s expectations.  Plus, the event continues to get coverage both in local media & SM.
  5. What is your policy on moderating communication?  Define transparency.
     Since we are in the business of communicating on behalf of our clients, the level of moderating communication is, in the end, set by the client.  If a client is not comfortable having an open, two-way communication via SM then we typically don’t recommend they actively engage.  Instead, we will recommend they get involved to simply listen to the conversations and use the information/insights gained to help modify their efforts.  Transparency: open, clear & accountable.
  6. How will what you learned with this event change your future strategies?
     While the messaging & SM platform strategy was well defined and executed for this event, they need to be put in play much earlier for an inaugural event.  SM efforts are organic by their nature so ample time is required to allow the relationships to form so the effort can adapt over time and increase the level of engagement.

If adrenaline is your thing and you’re not afraid of heights in your armchair – be sure to checkout the video of Kira going over the edge, and photos from up top and down below. I am interested in learning more about the campaigns are you working on and how you plan to energize your networks into action?

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AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Dave McNamara | Posted in Digital Marketing | Comments (9)
Oct 13 2009

FOX News – Just an Old School Troll

October 13, 2009 – 8:00 am

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 By Mike Mulvihill

Transparency is certainly top of mind in the SM world as a result of the FTC ruling on endorsements and testimonials (i.e., pay-to-blog). The ruling has drawn commentary from far ranging sources such as the Council of PR Firms to Chris Brogan. Like Chris, I don’t know what’s so hard to get on this topic – if you are given product or paid to blog, you better divulge it or your voice won’t have any cred (because sooner or later you’ll be found out.)

 I’m more interested in how transparency is making the news in a spat between the Obama administration and FOX News. OK, so back in the early 2000s, FOX pretended it was “fair and balanced” when it was anything but. Now, FOX is stoking up its ratings to unprecedented levels as what White House Communications Director Anita Dunn calls “a wing of the Republican Party.” The White House, which is essentially a wing of the Democratic Party, has said it is done talking to FOX News.

While I find this more than a bit disheartening from a societal viewpoint, as a communications consultant I say right on. From the White House viewpoint, FOX is a troll (photo courtesy of Doug Wildman), which Wikipedia defines as “…someone who posts controversial, inflammatory, irrelevant or off-topic messages in an online community…with the primary intent of provoking other users into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion.” One of the first bits of advice I received about blogging was don’t feed the trolls. And that is true in traditional communications as well.

Where do I get off calling FOX News a troll (at least to those who do not share its ultra-conservative agenda)? Let’s review a few pieces of history:

  • FOX was founded in 1996 and is still headed by Roger Ailes, who was for years a Republican political operative, including a stint as the elder Bush’s media strategist during which he helped create the famous “Willie Horton” attack ad. 
  • FOX is home to the conservative viewpoints of Bill O’Reilly, Glenn Beck and others. They recently added John Stossel and are rumored to be recruiting Lou Dobbs.  Granted Beck and O’Reilly have “shows” (i.e. editorial) while much of the FOX News programming is “news.”  However, that line is a bit too gray for the White House.
  • Before Obama even announced his candidacy, FOX started the false claim that Obama had attended an Islamic school (which was retracted).

 There are more but you get it – FOX is decidedly “conservative.” But, to their credit, at least they admit it these days. And the NY Times, NPR and others are “liberal.” So do you watch/read/hear news to broaden your horizons or to reinforce what you already believe? As a society, these days we seem more interested in the latter.

 Most successful issues management situations recognize that the secret to success is to mobilize supporters to help woo the large middle of the bell curve to your side of the issue. The two tails of the bell curve are either staunch supporters or staunch adversaries. Supporters you must avoid alienating. The adversaries are trolls – you won’t change their mind regardless of what happens. There is no need to include them, just make sure you know what they’re up to and don’t get baited into a fight. Because as FOX’s pugnacious Mr. Ailes has reportedly said, “Don’t pick a fight with people who like to fight.” 

 The next few months will tell whether the White House has silenced a troll or picked a fight. If nothing else, it will pump up FOX’s ratings.

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AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Mike Mulvihill | Posted in Digital Marketing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (3)
Oct 12 2009

Gotta Love Seth Godin’s Latest Moves

October 12, 2009 – 7:41 am

by Geoff Livingston

seth_godinWe often talk on the social web about responsiveness and how that means more to a reputation than stumbles and bumbles. Well, there’s no greater example right now than Seth Godin.

Last month Godin had a couple of stumbles, of which he was highly criticized by leading nonprofit and marketing bloggers, including a scathing post and podcast by me. Well, whether or not Seth’s willing to take comments on his blog or Tweet, it’s very clear that he’s listening and responding. Godin’s actions demonstrate it’s not how hard you fall, but how quickly you get up and respond.

Let’s break down the two errors:

1) First up, Godin took an ill-informed swipe on nonprofits. My criticism of his post was that it demonstrated a lack of market expertise and field work. How does Godin respond? He rolls up his sleeves, gets in the field and works with 40 nonprofits. I also understand a Godin webinar for nonprofits with NTEN is in the works, too.

2) The infamous Squidoo “content hijacking” attempt by Godin to charge corporations $400 a month for the right to comment on aggregated content. Seth did an interview once on this blog where he said the marketing blogosphere likes to eat it’s own. Well, he got eaten on this one — and rightly so, it seems like an unreasonable demand or a poorly positioned monitoring service.

Regardless, Godin listened to the feedback and promptly changed the model of Squidoo’s aggregated Brands in Public content. Further, he has been very proactive making calls to the Scott Montys of the world, fortifying his relationships with lead marketing bloggers.

Like or hate his approach to marketing and social media, Godin is committed to the market. You take his advice or leave it (who, me?), but the reality is that Godin is listening, adapting, and acting like a great community member. From one bald blogger to another, I’m tipping my hat in admiration.

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AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Geoff Livingston | Posted in PR Industry Trends | Tagged , , , , | Comments (11)
Oct 9 2009

CEOs Heal Thyselves!

October 9, 2009 – 8:08 am

by Michael Whitlow

Microsoft photo librarySince its placement on the investor relations firmament, the earnings conference call has been a focus of the CEO.  As the quarter ends, and disclosure committee meetings, preliminary numbers and general internal optimism or pessimism takes hold, CEO intensity is amping up.

But, as sure as there is one quarter behind you; there is another coming.  Now is the time to review what you did right and what you didn’t do so right last time and plot your path to improving the next earnings call.

Here are a few tips for CEOs as they prep for the call and conduct the very serious business of reporting the quarter:

  1. Understand and practice your headlines for the quarter – Listeners didn’t dial in to have you or the CFO read the numbers. Most analysts already have their color commentary in mind.  What’s yours? “We can pretend like we have a choice about transparency, or we can recognize the fact that almost everything that is being done is being exposed,” says Jeff Swartz of Timberland in Christine Arena’s Fast Company blog. Jeff Swarz Provides Context about brave brands – good read.
  2. If you don’t understand it, don’t deliver it -  While you don’t want to exhibit undue optimism or pessimism on the call, you do want to have enthusiasm and energy for the story.  Exude leadership in the call by showing them an informed, engaged, enthusiastic spokesperson for the company. On the other hand, use your role particularly to moderate and balance the conversation when expectations soar a bit too high – you owe it to your team and to shareholders to keep an even keel.
  3. Listen to criticism; use it to prepare – Many CEOs still make the mistake of not reviewing past performance to improve the next call. With all of the information readily at hand in the form of transcripts and call recordings, there is no excuse for repeating mistakes of the past.  Spend time with your IRO reviewing the good, the bad and the ugly to improve. The Huffington Post described Ken Lewis’ departure at Bank of America as “succumbing to nearly a year of strife.” Listening for ways to improve your transparency can prevent strife.
  4. Look forward – With all the strictures affecting today’s financial reporting, it is tempting to say as little as possible or, worse, to present a data-packed; intelligence-void view of the company and its progress. You spent money getting your attorneys to craft the perfect safe harbor language to be used at the start of the call.  Yes, there is risk in speaking of the future.  But, shareholders expect you to do so in order for them to understand where the business is headed and how progress is being made. Use your caveats, but don’t fail to speak about the future.
  5. Provide context – The only way that communications takes place is within a common frame of reference. To help shareholders separate excuses from reasons, good CEO communicators use key performance indicators for their companies, their industry sectors and the general economy as they relate to one another. Michael Pizzo tweeted about the CEO as storyteller recently, as have others.  I like the image.
  6. Relate your plan – Your plan is the key to knitting general and company-specific messages together in a form that can be related to your audience. Keep shareholders in touch with it. The key question in their minds is “Does management have a plan for taking advantage of opportunities in good times and bad in a way that increases shareholder value?”
  7. Provide reasons; not excuses – I was advising a company early in my investor relations career that offered up “timing of shipments” as a reason for performance lags in about every quarter that dipped below the comparable quarter a year earlier. The right question from an analyst about our plan for dealing with this recurring issue brought us out of our reverie.  Put these (as paraphrased from analyst reports) on your watch list:
  • Guest traffic slowed due to the consumer economic environment (variation of “it’s the economy”).
  • We were faced with aggressive promotion by a competitor.
  • Last year we dropped a coupon; this year we didn’t.
  • The weather in (fill in month or quarter here) was horrible
  • We have a very good business with a bad balance sheet.
  • There were ongoing challenges with our store-level execution.
  • The Fed made me do it.
  • Supplier production challenges slowed our lines.
  • Destocking/inventory corrections had significant impact.
  • Government policy changes have changed the environment.
  • We had been managing to a yardstick that turned out to have a bit of rubber in it at the end of the quarter. (couldn’t resist an exact quote)

Following these seven tips won’t help you overcome all of the challenges of the quarterly duty to report to shareholders and stand for questioning, but making the right changes in your approach certainly will go a long way to increasing your effectiveness in this important investor relations activity.

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AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Michael Whitlow | Posted in Digital Marketing | Tagged , , , , | Comments (9)
Oct 8 2009

Can Gen Xers Revolutionize the Workplace?

October 8, 2009 – 5:21 am

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By Jenn Riggle

My colleagues jokingly call me “JennX” because I’m one of those angry Gen Xers who’s tired of hearing how Baby Boomers have changed the world. But recently, I’ve decided to change my tune – and I’m not alone.

After being in the workforce for nearly 20 years, Gen Xers are starting to find their voice. A recent Gen X meme suggested that we’re selling out, but I like to think that we’re growing up. Maybe it’s because we’re hitting middle age and joining the ranks of middle management. Maybe it’s because we’re going to be the ones who will manage the 78 million “Trophy Kids” entering the workforce. Or maybe it’s because Gen Xers want to make sure we don’t grow up to be managers like the Baby Boomers.

After living in the shadow of the Boomers for decades, I have to admit I felt a sense of dread when reading about the new media darlings, the Baby Boomers’ kids. They’ve been described as pampered, difficult to manage and constantly questioning the status quo. Come to think of it, this sounds a lot like what the Boomers were saying about Generation X nearly 20 years ago. For better or worse, the Boomers have helped raise both generations – whether at home or in the office.

As much as it frustrates us, Gen X has to accept that it will never get the attention we so arguably deserve and that we’ll forever be sandwiched between these two, self-absorbed generations.

But instead of whining, we need to seize the day and accept the challenge of helping to shape the next generation. I was excited to see a Gen Yer talk positively about what she’s learned from Gen Xers – so they’re willing to listen. In fact, we may be uniquely qualified to manage this new generation, as Tammy Erickson reported in her blog, “Why Generation X Has the Leaders We Need Now.”

We’ve always been team players and now we have an opportunity to lead large teams of idealistic 20-somethings and give them the training they need to become future leaders. With Boomers’ retirement right around the corner, Gen Xers have an opportunity to make the workplace a kinder, gentler place and to become the mentors we sought in our 20s.

We can teach our younger colleagues what we’ve learned, things like:

  • In a down economy, having a job is key ? even if it isn’t the one you want.
  • Don’t let your job title define your identity.
  • Find the joy in your work, rather than getting embroiled in office politics.
  • Don’t get frustrated that your colleagues aren’t like you. Instead, find out what motivates them.

Robin Williams inspired a group of students in the great teen movie The Dead Poets Society to be brave and think outside of the box. I urge Gen Xers to do the same.

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AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Jenn Riggle | Posted in Digital Marketing | Tagged , , | Comments (6)
Oct 7 2009

Do the Wave! It’s Hard to Catch On

October 7, 2009 – 3:00 pm

By Wyatt Wood

Last week I received my invite to the Google Wave phenomenon – it really wasn’t as enticing as I hoped, I’m glad I didn’t spend $5100 on it. I watched the videos, saw the preview demonstrations and even drank the Kool-aid as a die hard Google fan, but something is missing. After getting my hands elbow deep in the “wave” (yes there is special terminology for the service) it occurred to me that the issue is the network.

First, to quell the fears of those who aren’t on the “Wave” yet: this will not kill Twitter, Facebook, Ning or (insert another social media network here). Especially right now, since it is full of bugs, slow, cumbersome interface, and a limited user network. In typical Google fashion it can still be considered in “beta” mode.

That being said, Google has their work cut out based on the underlying message that Wave is to replace email, online document collaboration and chat with this revolutionary real time communication model. I feel after using the wave what Ryan realized on the 37signals blog that “‘Because it sucks’ is not a reason to redesign. ‘It sucks’ leaves the scope wide open with no measure of success.” The purpose to step beyond email or “old style” of communication is a valiant effort but to complicate the method send the Wave to the scrap heap.

Here’s the catch: Google is surprisingly missing the concept that it is all about the people and productivity, duh!

Last week they released 100k invites with the ability for folks to then nominate eight other individuals. It seems this morning they have begun to send out more invites based on those nominations. I understand the need to control the user base but if the purpose of the application is collaboration I would expect the ability to add more humans into the network would be top priority. Currently it’s similar to post-apocalyptic hide and seek trying to find contacts via the six degrees in the social network that were lucky enough to be invited or nominated. Currently the hurdle to collaborate is so high just finding the network of individuals to work with is virtually impossible.

My biggest concern about contacts and “friends” in Google Wave is the way to manage them. Right now there is no integration with Gmail to manage contacts (other than a link that loads Google Contacts in a new window separate from the application). If they expect the contact management system to stay as simplistic as Gmail contacts then it will be painful to setup groups of individuals to interact with. Even something as simple as how Facebook organizes contacts via lists would be a start to managing the user experience.

The lack of human network then leads into the noise factor. The influx of gadgets, bots, and other “features” just overloads the experience with nonhuman interaction. I am all for automation which is the goal of the Wavebots; however, so far the implementation has been far from “seamless”. The concept is great – but the execution of these robots makes the usage painful and confusing.

I understand that the product is still in extreme infancy, however after having announced it months ago and chummed the waters in anticipation the purpose of the application should be a bit more polished. Brad Robb, a fiction writer expounded on the technology challenge for using the Wave as a writer and summarized his experience with: “Google Wave will be a powerful force for those who want to use it. The system is a lot like checkers – takes two minutes to learn and a lifetime to master.” In today’s market complexity for user interaction doesn’t win.

Google has stepped its game up with real time communication efforts between networks of individuals, especially with the Wave adding a new twist on the concept of online collaboration. Yet right now the combination of “noise” and the lack of network (human network) is killing the momentum of Google Wave being a smash hit.

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AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Dave McNamara | Posted in Digital Marketing | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (10)

What’s the Worst Thing That Can Happen with Social Media?

October 7, 2009 – 11:31 am


by Priya Ramesh

SOCIAL-MEDIA-SCARES-COMPANIESI have been spending a lot of time trying to become a trust agent for our clients venturing into the unknown territory of social media. Kudos to you for taking the risk of the unknown, and trying to give social media a fair chance.  Nothing ventured, nothing gained!

It doesn’t matter how much we repeatedly hear about the Scott Montys, the Shashi Bellamkondas and the Amber Naslunds sharing their success with social media and taking their respective brands to new heights, when it comes to YOU being held accountable for your company’s entry into social media, I can see that big question in your head. Hopefully this post will alleviate some of that unwanted stress.

After spending the last five months sitting through series of social media strategy meetings for a variety of verticals, I pretty much sum up the main causes to social media apprehension as follows:

i) Fear of having to respond now: Yes, it’s not a monologue anymore once you launch a blog or start a Facebook fan page. If you want to be liked as a brand/company/cause, you got to be able to engage in meaningful conversations and by that I mean if someone were to ask you some tough questions, you have to be ready to respond. Successful social media programs are those that believe in a prompt and proactive response to comments and tweets. Take the example of @netsolcares that has earned the reputation of effectively using Twitter to respond to customer issues within 24 hours. What did Network Solutions get out of putting that effort into “response” and creating a “dialogue” with its customers-increased customer satisfaction. That’s not bad, eh?

ii) Fear of losing control over the messaging: I don’t blame the anxiety a well recognized brand name has while venturing into social media, because now your messaging starts to lose its black and white color code. I am not saying you renounce all sense of ownership over how you shape public perception, but the key is to be open to the flow of messages from the other end of the channel. Isn’t the end goal to be embraced by your community for who you are and how you improve their lives versus being the fastest, most scalable and high performance driven company in the world? Besides, organizations that don’t try to define their course of interaction on social networks and are open to “listening” have benefitted from the customer feedback they directly receive via social media!

iii) Fear of potential negative impact: One thing that is both a boon and a bane for social media users is that you will know almost instantly if your campaign is a hit or a flop. The Johnson & Johnson  Motrin campaign is a good example of how social media can bring down your messaging in just over a weekend. Two days after the campaign was launched, J&J was forced to withdraw their ad campaign, thanks to the powerful voice of mommy bloggers on Twitter.

So what’s the worst thing that can happen by embracing social media? You put your brand reputation on the line and you start hearing back. Well, in my mind you just successfully crossed the first milestone in social media success, you asked the right questions and now your audience is telling you what they think of you! Negative feedback actually helps you in the long run. It’s time to take that feedback and revisit your marketing strategy. But in the meantime, you have established a connection with people who truly care about your product/service. That’s why they gave you honest feedback, you are now a lot closer to them in winning their trust and loyalty.

I look forward to hearing more from communications pros who have overcome the fear of social media and what helped them start appreciating the numerous benefits this rapidly growing trend has to offer. Who knows your experience might help me in my conversations with the new adopters of social media!

Photo courtesy: http://images.huffingtonpost.com/gen/107053/thumbs/s-SOCIAL-MEDIA-SCARES-COMPANIES-large.jpg.

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AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Priya Ramesh | Posted in Digital Marketing | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (20)
Oct 6 2009

What’s the Price of Bad Behavior?

October 6, 2009 – 8:00 am

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by Mike Mulvihill

My last Buzz Bin blog post about Jackasses, F-bombs and Incivility focused on recent bad behaviors online and offline. This weekend, there were refreshing signs that bad behavior does have its payback (photo by Blumie the Koala). Kanye West, fresh off his Taylor Swift grab-the-mic dis, was forced to cancel his tour with Lady Gaga due to poor sales. Both Rolling Stone and Spin conjecture that a high ticket price ($150 minimum) in a bad economy, heightened by Kanye’s flaky behavior, led to the cancelation.

We’ve been dealing with a few client crisis situations as of late, so this got me thinking of examples of bad social media behavior of the poster child type most often cited – Walmart,  Target and others – whose SM dabbling blew up in their faces. But did it?

David Letterman divulges that he has had affairs with multiple staff members, and his ratings are projected to improve. What was the price of these bad behaviors? Little for Walmart. They learned from their mistakes and improved at social media. They are a retail juggernaut kept rolling ahead throughout this time while other retailers were (are) happy to just tread water. Walmart’s sustainability initiatives are driving image repair as well as innovation.

Yes, there are plenty of cases of bad outcomes that are legend. But I am hypothesizing that these are the exception not the rule. While bad behavior by corporations in the social media realm are often cited, they do not seem to have a greater affect on corporate outcomes than any other type of crisis. So please help refute or confirm my hypothesis. Comment back with some of your favorite examples of bad social media behaviors/programs that have had a measurable, negative impact on the sponsor’s business.

I am posturing that in the end, like all relationships both public and private, if the company’s business proposition is so compelling or there is enough good will built and positive behaviors displayed over time, then isolated instances of bad behaviors not only are forgiven but have limited impact on business outcomes. This is especially true when the offending party follows the rules of good crisis remediation – identify the problem, stop the behavior, express regret, change their ways and institute improved practices – are combined with good communications and future good behavior.

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AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Mike Mulvihill | Posted in Digital Marketing | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments (3)