Who is in control of your brand?

Tom Scott, a wacky comedian from the UK, has created a series of warning labels for articles in newspapers, online, blogs, forum, basically whatever. Love it. (Download the PDF here)

Here are my favs…

And one for this particular blog post!

Hat tip @mumbrella

There is a lot of people debating/assuming the definition of what social media really is, and it feels like its being way over complicated.

DEFINITION: Social Media
A place where two or more PEOPLE communicate

Its nothing to do with marketing, but Social (Media) Markeitng can utilise the communications through tools like Social Networking Sites, Word-of-mouth, PR (PR agencies should own social media) and many more.

As a marketer you can use these tools to communicate with your potential customer to increase sales, grow your database, manage your brand perception and all the normal marketing outcomes.

Companies can be involved in the following ways:

1. Get involved in the conversation/communication already taking place

2. Create a new place for people to have a conversation/communication

3. Listen to the conversation/communication for research purposes

4. Stuff it all up

Rules? Well they’re defined by the people having the conversation, and I’m sorry to say there’s no blanket rules for social media, as different people have different ‘rules’.

Attitude! It’s all about the attitude you have and how it effects your approach to utilising social media. People don’t like people who’s attitude is arrogant, or rude, or evil. Think about the attitudes that are important to you, and then think about what is important to your potential customers.

Related articles:

• Social Marketing – Improving Corporate Image
• Your goal for social media marketing and marketing in 2009
• Social Media in 2009 is as simple as this…
• Why Social Media isn’t

Well, another brand who isn’t listening and their brand is being damaged… Because they’re simply not looking after their customers.

Shai Coggins had a great experience at Cafe Primo and posted a positive blog post about it… however, after the next few times she went back she posted a negative post on the experience.

Now, if you search for Cafe Primo Adelaide, the fourth listing is the negative post. They could fix this by contacting Shai and asking her how they could resolve these issues, then maybe resolve them. But atleast reaching out to Shai would help the situation… Leaving it damages their brand everytime someone searches for them in Adelaide. Funny and sad that they’re missing this opportunity.

Last week a company launched a print and online ad campaign, taking the piss of mums using their babies as fasion accessories. Within 4 days the campaign was pulled as a result of angry Joe public. The brand posted this letter on their website’s homepage

“Nov 20th

So…it’s been almost 4 days since I apologized here for our Motrin advertising. What an unbelievable 4 days it’s been. Believe me when I say we’ve been taking our own headache medicine here lately! 

Btw – if you’re confused by this – we removed our Motrin ad campaign from the marketplace on Sunday because we realized through your feedback that we had missed the mark and insulted many moms. We didn’t mean to…but we did. We’ve been able to get most of the ads out of circulation, but those in magazines will, unfortunately, be out there for a while.

We are listening to you, and we know that’s the best place to start as we move ahead. More to come on that.

In the end, we have been reminded of age-old lessons that are tried and true:

          When you make a mistake – own up to it, and say you’re sorry.

          Learn from that mistake.

That’s all… for now. 

Sincerely, 
 
Kathy Widmer 
VP Marketing 
McNeil Consumer Healthcare”

You can read about it here http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=132622

The brand (http://www.motrin.com/) have dealt with this in the best possible way and will probably get positive PR out of the stuff up. 

There are some key tips that can be gleaned from this case study:

1. Be aware and listen

If Mortin/their agency weren’t aware of the negative uproar they could’ve really annoyed some people

2. Be responsive

Mortin acted and within 4 days had resolved the issue

3. Be transparent

They didn’t try and excuse their actions or thoughts, they clearly stated the truth.

4. Your brand is under the microscope

People seem to have opinions and now within minutes they can express them broadly to the masses. Little slip ups aren’t allowed – be aware of and truely understand your audience, they’ve got more power than your advertising $s now.

5. Your brand is in social media – like it or not

Its your choice if you want to participate, so get in there and have a look around, warts and all, you can’t hide your demons in the closet, its unlocked and people want to set them free.

6. Get good PR advice that isn’t stupid

Like we learnt from NAB earlier this year, bad PR advice will exponentially grow your problem. Lots of PR agencies in Australia don’t know how social media works, if yours doesn’t get them to learn and add it to your campaign objectives or strategy in some way.

Go Mortin! Whoever they are.