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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.

Calculating YOUR Social Media ROI

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Inspiration for blog posts comes from such odd places; I glommed on to this one as it rolled off my tongue on a call. I told a colleague Twitter had saved me from a slow death in a dark office. My love of Twitter is no secret:

A global community of intellectuals

  • New friends with whom to banter and pose odd questions

Information and collections of learning for my professional development

A network of experts on chats, like #SBT10 with whom to ask basic questions without fear and so much more.

My colleague then said, “You be careful, Jayme. I hope you’re making money as a result?” And, I said, “Nope, I haven’t asked. ROI on Twitter isn’t always about money.”

That’s when I realized the nugget for this post. How do you define your social media ROI? Forrester  is selling a report with nearly the exact same title. (Promise, I didn’t know it until seeing the direct e-mail in my box after I wrote my headline and post.)

ROI comes in various shapes and sizes.

My friend Mark W. Schaefer who writes the amazingly successful {grow} blog with a hyper-engaged community states it wisely, “There are many business benefits that come from Twitter. It could be information, competitive intelligence, a new supplier or partner, a deal, a link, or yes, even a sales lead.” (I encourage your perusal of this link to Mark’s blog regarding his post today about the power of Twitter consumers.)

Defining ROI is usually akin to financials i.e. revenue and profit. For me, social media (Twitter and blogging) have always been defined as brand development and thought leadership. One would argue these are metrics… exactly…because return on investment is about measurement via metrics that may not always directly correlate with the bottom line and profitability. 

If you’re a SMB (small-to-medium business), determining how social media influences your business is easier to ascertain, and you can create your own value-based metrics that align directly to your business model and culture.  

How about these as examples:

  • A re-tweet 40 times of a blog post announcing a product or service leads to five inquiries on your Web site. (That’s ROI.)
  • A new person you met on Twitter becomes your next employee because you developed rapport, engaged in conversation over time, and took a chance on hiring. You saved money with no job listings, no recruiters, and communicated directly with the candidate. (That’s ROI.)
  • A blog post written by someone at the company garnered a call by a respected partner in your vertical market interested in collaborating on an upcoming project. (That’s ROI.)

I may’ve backed myself into somewhat of a corner trying to define ROI via measurement values versus dollars, but who are we to tie a bow around a box and define it traditionally? Social media has spawned out-of-the-box thinking and so, too, should it pave the way for  creative definitions of ROI suited to your business.

However, when you’re not the boss, perhaps it’s safer to get out the box with the pretty ribbon?

Social Media, PR and Greenpeace

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Credit: Greenpeace

Here’s a brand everyone loves to hate or loves to love. Regardless of your perspective, you’ve got to admire how is using social media and grassroots marketing for its cause.

Earlier this year, I wrote several times and about the palm oil debacle. The world watched as a video went viral (in this case I prefer to use “viral” versus “word-of-mouth”). It included the bloody end of an orangutan finger posing as a Nestle Kit Kat chocolate bar (bitten by an unsuspecting actor).

My posts captured the situation as it unfolded – the non-profit taking on the likes of global behemoths (along with Unilever, Burger King, Pizza Hut, KFC, and the list goes on and on) about of the rain forest by palm-oil manufacturer Sinar Mas. I read coverage in the Wall Street Journal that announced a third-party audit by Sinar Mas to clear its name only to have a comment on my blog inform me the report was fraudulent.

For as long as I can remember, Greenpeace has capitalized on every marketing and public relations tactic available to push its message to the masses and take on corporate America. Last week in the Denver airport, I was greeted on the main concourse by two Greenpeace volunteers. These kids were early 20s, and the woman I spoke with was buoyant and engaging with piercings in various facial places and spiky black hair (just sayin’).

She and her buddy were doing grassroots marketing in a high-traffic location to engage folks in the their cause – to save the rain forest by “outing” corporate America’s massive use of palm oil. I informed her I had blogged twice when the group took on Nestle and Unilever; I also opined the Greenpeace  viral video was vile. (At that she looked a bit sheepish.)

She asked if I had visited its Web site to see what they were doing, and she asked me to join its cause.

I respectfully declined saying I intended to stay neutral until I was more informed, although I was likely the most-informed passerby that whole day. Had I made a donation to Greenpeace then or registered to join its cause, I knew I would need to also alter purchasing from the corporate giants Greenpeace disdains. I wasn’t ready to make that change nor did I want to be a hypocrite.

I am suitably impressed by the audacious, activist, committed, aggressive public relations by Greenpeace. I’ve watched it unfold since the beginning of my PR career more than two decades ago.  Look at the Greenpeace model:

  • It adopts a cause and uses every tier and tactic of marketing communications powered now by social media.
  • By adopting social media, Greenpeace has hit more than just pockets of activist- oriented and like-minded consumers; it has filtered its message through the masses on blogs, Facebook, Twitter and My Space.
  • It has not ignored tried-and-true grassroots marketing – the face-to-face interpersonal communication at airports in which its headquarters resides, for example. It collects names, commentary, memberships, registrations, subscriptions, and donations one by one, just like a political campaign.

For any company and not-for-profit seeking tips how to implement marketing tactics with the aplomb of Greenpeace, head to the Denver Airport for a reminder.