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Digital Marketing Strategy, PR and Messaging

Soulati-'TUDE!

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.

Follow-Up: SMB Chat Forum

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An intellectual team of tweeps I know have been helping formulate an idea rapid fire to launch a forum for SMBs that allows small and medium businesses to opine about topics relating to business operations, national issues affecting business owners, education about topics we specialize in, and so much more.

This week has been the jazziest for me. With incredible brainstorming done via Twitter and on this blog (you can see Wednesday’s post “Planning to SMB Facebook” with its amazing comments) and an even more solidifying conversation with Neicole Crepeau (with whom this nugget originated), this is a final follow-up to evolution of this idea.

The fast unfolding of this concept (resulting in a decision to make this blog home to #SMBChat) was stymied by discussion around the consequence of switching blog focus and key words that would inevitably harm search engine rankings. Befuddled in my PR mind, I could not understand what the big dang hooha is about rankings and search marketing for this blog.

Several expert comments by Neicole, Michelle Quillin and Gregg Morris suggested not to turn this blog into something that diminishes traffic and rankings for public relations and social media (themes I write about) or to write half about these themes and half about SMBs.

I remained baffled, and here’s why:

This blog ain’t got no traffic(!), and, if it does, it’s sure hidden from me. Soulati-TUDE! is 100 posts old; has perhaps four subscribers from maybe an all-time high of 12; targets SMB topics a goodly amount of time with an educational bent; is written by a PR agency practitioner of 26 years (that’s me) who pings on a plethora of topics to position and brand as a thought leader.

I understand why Gregg Morris who themes on storytelling could not diminish his rankings with something like this; he’s all over that key word and works hard to maintain his presence and position.

I understand why Neicole Crepeau at Coherent Interactive needs to keep her key words focused on Web sites, design, digital interaction, and social media. That’s where her niche is.

But, guys, I’m in PR!! Public relations is ubiquitous. My world spans every industry and business sector. I deliver strategy, critical thinking, problem solving and solutions. I ping across verticals like a ball on a rubber band attached to a paddle. I offer business counsel for SMBs, large corporations and non-profits. I develop content and allow the experts to optimize it. After 26 years in this field, I can take the risk of a few ranking points while creating a mash up of public relations, social media, SMBs, health care, education, immigration, financial reform and whatever the mood strikes.

Everyone I meet on Twitter is a SMB; we are not engaging and creating community with corporate biggies and Fortune companies, are we? Look at your stream; who among them are global corporate execs?

The goal for #SMBChat Forum is to create community of like-minded folks frustrated with issues that affect our businesses so we can share opinions, perspectives, solutions, and support.  Perhaps along the way we can tackle tough issues, stake a claim on our own plat of the Internet and foster harmony at the same time. With guest posts from a variety of folks with differing views and businesses from all corners of the globe, we can do just that.

Perhaps I can rename the blog with a tagline to be Soulati-TUDE! Home of #SMBChat Forum (or the Big Whopper).

If I find a consistent voice oriented to the issues that plague us, isn’t that the most critical component?

Greenpeace’s Social Media Win Has Losers

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Rainforest

If you were paying attention to social and traditional media, you will recall the Greenpeace/Nestle global crisis communications situation primarily in March and April this year. I wrote about it here; it was a fascinating study in public relations. (I would’ve liked to have been teaching a PR class when this was unfolding.)   

The issue became quite ugly quite fast when Greenpeace launched a crusade with a viral video accusing Nestle of killing orangutans in the rainforest due to its purchase of palm oil from a company in Indonesia that harvested palm oil from the rainforest and sold it to the likes of Nestle.

Nestle went on the defensive on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media hot spots and garnered thousands of hits to its page. Social media erupted against Nestle, as well, and Greenpeace watched their fireworks for weeks. In spite of Greenpeace’s social media win, the losers are still trying to uncover.

The accused Indonesian company from which Nestle and Unilever had been purchasing palm oil, PT Sinar Mas Agro Resources & Technology (SMART), ceased doing business with the two global giants as a result of the allegations. Unilever had been purchasing 47,000 tons of palm oil from SMART annually.

On August 11, 2010, this headline in the Wall Street Journal grabbed my attention, “Palm Oil Firm Rebuts Greenpeace Claim.” STAR paid to conduct a third-party audit of its estates to determine research “shows the company wasn’t responsible for cutting down forest and destroying orangutan habitat for palm cultivation.”

While I can’t corroborate the research report (Greenpeace is rebutting it), I can give you the skinny:

DAMAGE DONE, GREENPEACE “WINS.”

The public relations and social media strategy behind the Greenpeace maneuvers are amazing; and, they’ve been doing this for years.  These campaigns are the most well-orchestrated on a global scale; why? Because we live in an interconnected world where videos go viral within hours, and instantaneous, real- time, in-bound communication on social networks heightens the crisis to unmanageable proportion.

The tools are available to all the players except STAR. I have not done my research on this company’s mission, values or business philosophy (here’s a link to Business.com with some info). What I can assume is that people in Indonesia lost money and jobs because of this campaign and monkeys perhaps lost homes, too. World-wide, real-time refute via social media of the allegations by STAR were not possible, but the Wall Street Journal provided the company a solid foundation for which to air its side of the story.

As I weave this story again, I’m drawing your focus to the profound impact social media has all companies. Size Doesn’t Matter!! Word-of-mouth marketing is an amazing channel. If you watched the man in the video biting off the finger of an orangutan when he opened a Kit Kat, it’s highly likely you’ll never eat another (uh, chocolate bar).

JetBlue Flight Attendant, Social Media and Jobs

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Slater quits JetBlue after luggage lands on head

Just read the current Bloomberg Businessweek to arrive in the mail (I do like magazines). Its first story about the “Mad As Hell” JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater caught my eye and that of the rest of America, too.

To bring you up to speed, he quit his job in a flamboyant way, over the plane’s PA system to “curse a rude customer whose bag landed on his head, politely thanking other passengers, grabbing two beers from the galley before sliding down the inflatable emergency chute and sprinting toward home.”

What did America do in response? APPLAUD! And, social media erupted.

Facebook pages attracting 18,000+ fans with 211,000 likes lauded his gutsy move to quit a 20-year career in the airline industry. Others lamented their lack of nerve to do the same.

While Slater ponders a possible seven years in prison for criminal mischief and reckless endangerment, companies should ponder the entire real-life situation. Social media is not attacking JetBlue in this case; luckily the employer had nothing to do with this incident – or did they?

 I think there may be some culpability on the company’s part; however, not in a financial or legal way…here’s how.

Everyone is aware of the state of the ever-worsening economy. Those with jobs are coping with workloads overflowing and work-life balance in disarray.  Companies with a majority of frontline sales and customer service reps need to examine how they keep employees’ tempers in check when hazards of the job cause stress eruptions.

It may be easier for teleservice representatives to maintain composure, but the airline industry, retail, health care and professional services, for example, should look at new programs to de-stress frontline employees.

When was the last time you interacted with a customer service rep face to face? Was the experience professional, calm, satisfactory? Hopefully, it was because employees are not trained in social work or psychology and really don’t know how to handle other peoples’ stress beyond their own (even that’s suspect).

  • Perhaps workers who engage the public as frontline ambassadors should experience a friendly course in anger management for non-offenders.
  • Maybe employers can pop for a hotel getaway on the company to help de-stress frontline workers.
  • What about engaging a company-wide spa day? That would jolt a niche of the economy, wouldn’t it?

What do you think about Steven Slater’s decision to toss a job down the chute and contemplate prison garb in the not-too-distant future?

This is fascinating, and he, too, has hired a publicist; just like the post I wrote about Mark Hurd of H-P who has a PR firm on board to manage their celebrity.

(photo credit courtesy of Facebook)

Pull Sales to Push Social Media

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The July 12, 2010 Advertising Age features an interview with LG’s CMO Kwan Sup Lee. He is formerly of P&G and also worked pizza in Korea. LG owns a broad portfolio of consumer electronics products including microwaves and TVs. It is branding itself as a lifestyle company.

The more I study the influence of social media on sales, the more I realize the missing link IS sales. Just like public relations has yet to influence sales directly (we’re on peripheral vision), social media is not touching frontline sales, either.

The story listed five marketing challenges LG faces:

1. Focus on creating great products and then let marketing showcase them.

2. Forget about “one upmanship game” of tech features.

3. Use a broad product portfolio as a strength.

4. …understand your business, your consumers and your brand.

5. Don’t be intimidated by the competition.

Pretty basic and areas of concern by all companies, right? What’s blatantly missing is any mention of sales. The first challenge above is where I paused longest. How I’d like to edit #1 is:

Create great products supported by even greater marketing strategy and arm frontline sales with marketing tools and education about public relations and social media to influence a buy.

Public relations strategy provides a conduit to the customer, and social media channels allow direct, outside-in customer communication. The sales team, however, is WITH the customer face-t0-face whether B2B or B2C!

This strength of position by sales can help influence consumers to:

1. “Like” a Facebook page and subscribe to RSS feeds.

2.  Comment on a blog post or YouTube video with positive product feedback.

3. Ask for a Yelp comment.

4. Eliminate the blasted surveys with evey transaction we make and instead drive traffic to social media networks.

A flexible and nimble sales and management culture can make this happen and positively influence consumers’ buys. What do you think? Does this resonate with your thinking about what’s possible?