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Archives for October 2010

Tell Your Story First

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One of my favorite business publications is Fast Company. I devoured the October 2010 issue and amassed various tear sheets for the to-blog-about pile one of which was “Not So Slick.” This story in the section “NEXT Social Media” is about the BP tweep imposter @BPGlobalPR who took the Twitterosphere for a ride poking fun at BP for its handling and mismanagement of the oil spill crisis.

Leroy Stick, a comedy writer, seized an opportunity to create an outlet for the public’s wrath, launched the faux BP Twitter account and off to the races. As of this writing, Leroy has 186,590 followers with only 493 tweets and 8,148 listed. In the scheme of tweeting, that’s not a ton of content delivery; but, listed on 8K+? That is amazing.

The real corporate account @bp_america, “languished at a tenth of that,” according to Fast Company.

So, what’s the lesson for the day?

Companies cannot control their brand in the age of social media i.e. word-of-mouth marketing, Facebook and Twitter et al.

When you think about the magnitude of that statement, it’s frightening. We’ve seen so many examples of corporations lost in the throes of a defensive game on social media that more often than not has failed.

I’ve written about these stories relating to Nestle, Pampers, Sun Chips, Gap, and BP. Soon after I began to engage on Twitter, Dominos debacle had just occurred (when two pizza makers jokingly blew their noses in the cheese pie captured on video). Watching the corporate giants struggle with word of mouth and social media may bring some laughs, but this hits close to home for any company attempting to promote brand awareness online.

When a brand touches millions of people, there’s no doubt the lightening speed of the Ethernet is uncontrollable. How can a company attempt to control its brand if a crisis erupts?

  • First things first…prior to a crisis, marketing public relations needs to make everything tight – messaging, stories, training of spokespeople, collateral, websites, social networking sites, and regular engagement on social media, etc.
  • In the can should be approved corporate messages that senior leadership can dust off and easily update in the event that social media is the impetus behind the storm.
  • There needs to be a highly strategic social media team in place who can call the shots on the fly 24/7 across all time zones.
  • A pre-approved team of spokespeople need to have the media training to address all types of media at any time of the day; this means bloggers, Twitter chats, Facebookers, LinkedIn groups, and traditional media, too.
  • Accessibility is so critical during a crisis; the more the doors remain closed the more others win an offensive posture. So, be accessible to at least control the message and attempt to manage the brand at the same time. 

I don’t have all the answers; apparently, no one does. Sustainability expert Joel Makower, executive editor of GreenBiz.com said it well in Fast Company, “It really comes down to storytelling—if you don’t tell your story well, someone else will tell it for you.”

Blogging Encouragement Tips

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I’ve been neglecting you. For the last two weeks, my attention has been on building a new blog called The SMB Collective. This project, officially 14 days old tomorrow, has been consuming me and proudly so.

If anyone remembers my trials and tribulations to launch this blog with no prior experience, it was painful. I launched this second blog and first post with three pages in less than eight hours — from scratch — a blank screen.  For those who knew me back when, this is a laudable accomplishment! Why?

  • Blogging takes perseverance, and blogging takes confidence. There’s a definitive need to disengage from fear. If you back up your blog, you can get it back. Experiment with themes, design, plug-ins and more. Stick your neck out and try something new once a week or faster based on your comfort level.
  • Blogging voice is as fleeting and illusive as a butterfly seeking non-existent nectar. Now that I see the quantity of content bloggers are putting out, I also am noticing a fluctuation in voice. Where I’m going with SMB Collective is down an educational path to provide current topics relating to small-and-medium businesses’ daily life. By gathering experts, screened by Twitter engagement, each with distinct capabilities into one blogging community, I’m hopeful our voices will offer rich perspective that can help solve and address small business problems with solid solutions.

(I think what I just said there was more oriented to goals/objectives versus voice? I’m thinking to get to voice you need to state blogging objectives.)

  • Blogging takes time! Managing a collection of writers/bloggers and guest authors is nothing short of time consuming. Last night, I had no idea it would take me 2.5 hours to upload three posts with links I had to find, images I had to include, bylines I needed and more. Basically, that was time needed, but not budgeted.
  • Never regard blogging as a chore. When you don’t feel “it,” then don’t write. Anyone who blogs understands what I mean by “it.” For writers, it’s the inspiration from a Sun Chips bag or Gap logo that provides great fodder.
  • Embrace failure as a teachable moment. As adults, failing is so much harder to handle/manage. Although a time waster, it’s necessary to fall flat on your face so you can pick yourself up with less inhibition to try it again.

So, these are my tips to keep the blogging thing going and growing. What else might you add?

Corporations Do Not Understand Social Media

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I just wrote last week about the Frito-Lay Sun Chips packaging debacle here. I was aghast then, and I’m even more agog today about the Gap logo debacle that has made these two Fortune companies laughing stock.

What is happening to corporate America that permits their caving to public social media outcry about a green potato chip bag or a new corporate identity?

After four days of online whipping about its brand identity developed by an agency, Gap has pulled its brand new logo in favor of the old, archaic logo we’ve seen for decades. Blog posts, Facebook and Twitter accounts have been in an uproar about Gap’s newly designed logo. I just saw a post saying proudly, “Twitter responsible for Gap logo demise!”

I’m not doing my research to provide you with all the wonderful statistics on how long the Gap logo has been around, how much money people are wasting, what the comments have been and how many in social media circles, etc. because I don’t care, and I didn’t read the four days worth of posts on this topic. It wasn’t my business to tell Gap its new logo was ugly and stood for nothing.

Where I will spend some time making it my business is these two corporations on the heels of one another making jokes out of themselves while taking social networks for a free ride. The publicity each has garnered, while not positive, could not have been bought by advertisers. Our valuable time thinking about these mistakes was wasted, too.

What’s more shocking, is that it appears RESEARCH IS DEAD. It’s not public relations that’s dead; it’s not customer service that’s dead; it is truly research that’s dead.

Had Gap and Frito-Lay done its research in more than just the typical traditional way (focus groups?) and launched social media contests to vote on the bag or logo Facebookers liked best, then they would be assured of no backlash.

You know the People’s Choice Awards? You know American Idol and how they select the winner? Consumers VOTE – that’s the American way. We vote to garner popular consensus (although the winner doesn’t always win in politics).

So, don’t cry, corporate America, over your lost dollars to develop stupid packaging and branding campaigns if you’re not going to take your stupid packaging and branding campaigns to social media prior to going to market. It’s clear you don’t understand social media; otherwise, you would not be in this predicament, Frito-Lay and Gap, with egg on your faces.

This is an astonishing fail and does not reflect well on any of us in the world of marketing, public relations, advertising, or social media. The dynamic has shifted? Indeed.

Scrapers Steal From You

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Fascinating and frightening cover story in today’s Wall Street Journal, . Why it’s fascinating and frightening is for one reason alone — people share personal information online at the risk of privacy and loss of identity.

Scraping is the “business of tracking people’s activities online and selling details about their behavior and personal interests,” says the story.  The Web site was scraped by , and the former sent a cease and desist letter to the latter on May 18, 2010. The latter agreed to stop, but what damage to the site’s consumer members had already been done? Revealing use of medications, medical history and commiserating about daily life online is personal choice.

Data brokers salivate at these new social networking sites and online forums where everyone attacks a topic with relish while including high-level personal information. Legally, “scrapers operate in a gray area,” according the Wall Street Journal piece. That’s carte blanche to dive full speed ahead into the gazillion bytes of online data deemed fair game because CONSUMERS PUT IT THERE TO BEGIN WITH.

Where I fault my friends, family and colleagues is not enrolling on Facebook or Twitter or LinkedIn (although there are boundaries here, too); I question the judgment of those willing to trust any online site with such information as personal use of pharmaceuticals, medical conditions and states of mind on a daily basis i.e. depression, suicide attempts or self-abuse. What this screams for is the need for services people can experience and trust while seeking support from peers and counselors; and that’s not happening online.

People not in tune to the risk of online engagement fall prey to scraping, scammers and hackers. Not everyone has the background or understanding to ask the questions and make the right choice before opening the personl data chasm. In fact, the scams are so sophisticated now that even folks with solid technological knowledge about Web site back ends can become a victim.

You can get the companies and sites yourself from the story; however, I’d like to flag them here, too:

  • and Facebook continually use technology to block scraping, but who knows how successful they truly are long-term?
  • in Sweden is hired to block scrapers on behalf of its Website clients.
  • InfoCheckUSA, LLC in Florida began as a background-check firm for screening applicants; it now offers more social information pulled from social networking sites and beyond
  • 80Legs.com in Texas scrapes 1 million Web pages for $101
  • Screenscraper.com in Provo, Utah and two other firms operate in “Happy Valley”

According to the story in a Sentor quote, the Stockholm company used to block some 2,000 scrapes monthly for a customer; however, now that figure has risen tenfold on a monthly basis.

What does that say to us? Caveat emptor — buyer beware; and, if it’s free? Run in the other direction!

Frito-Lay Sun Chips Social Media Biodegradable Bag Fail

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(Frito-lay/Associated Press/Washington Post)

My first reaction after purchasing Sun Chips in its new, snazzy biodegradable packaging (because I recycle EVERYTHING) upon trying to open it was “dang, that’s noisy!”

Lo, Frito-Lay, owned by PepsiCo Inc. and maker of Sun Chips, has pulled its snazzy biodegradable packaging from shelves (available since January) wasting exorbitant amounts of money in so doing because it failed at consumer test marketing (IMHO).

I’m amazed companies the likes of Pampers with its Dry-Max debacle I wrote about here and now Sun Chips have launched products (after cycling through the usual market research, focus groups, product development et al I assume) only to pull them or engage in defensive posturing due to consumer outcry AFTER the fact.

How could Sun Chips not know that bag was noisy? Have you ever heard it?

Tumbling sales and consumer-created videos on social media sites contributed to the decision by these corporate giants to return five of the six flavors back to non-compostable packaging. So much for saving the environment from potato chip bags, eh?

Here’s the fail – because social media is at the fingertips of all consumers and corporations if they regard it as more than a passing fad, all Sun Chips would’ve had to do was the following:

  • During market research, it would’ve been simple and inexpensive to produce and launch a YouTube video asking for a nation-wide vote about which bag consumers prefer – the current (non-noisy) bag or the new, biodegradable (noisy) bag. I can assure you, Frito-Lay, that video would’ve garnered tremendous word-of-mouth attention and off we go to the races.
  • On your lame attempt at a Facebook page  where one consumer calls the new Sun Chips bags “great idea, freakishly loud,” you could’ve asked for votes on which bag is preferred and then point to the YouTube video to secure hits there, too.
  • On Twitter (are you @Fritolay or @Frito-Lay?) with your confusing identity with the same avatar where one of you currently apologizes for the noisy bag and asks for another chance, you could’ve launched a campaign to engage the tier-one social media pros to ask for a Twitter strategy (because obviously your in-house public relations department or unsavvy agency did not help you in this regard).

Well, hindsight is always 20-20, right? And, no one asked me, so I’ll just keep my 26-years-in-public-relations-counsel to myself.