Tag Archives: Social media marketing

August 28, 2014 · 9:25 am

Learning From Silliness

A little good news for a change emerging from all of the silliness that is the Ice Bucket Challenge:

As of Wednesday, August 27, The ALS Association has received $94.3 million in donations compared to $2.7 million during the same time period last year (July 29 to August 27). These donations have come from existing donors and 2.1 million new donors.

Having known people who’ve suffered with this horrible disease (as well as being a lifelong Yankee fan and admirer of the Iron Horse),  working to beat it is a worthy cause.  That said, there are a few things which we can take away from the videos of the last month which might be instructive in our own business endeavors.

First, let’s think about lemmings.  We humans often behave collectively, like lemmings. Once the pack starts in a particular direction, particularly one that seems appealing, many people just go along.  I’m not sure many of the folks who have participated in the meme gave a lot of thought to where the money was going.  I mean, who looked up the ALS Association’s records?  How much are officers paid?  How much do they pay for fundraising?  What are their lobbying expenses?  Most importantly, how much of the money they receive actually goes to grants and research?

As it turns out (yes I looked it up), they’re a very fine organization on all those counts (you can read it here).  The point is that once something reaches a critical mass, many people will participate even if it’s only due to Fear Of Missing Out, without digging too deeply into the thinking.  In this case, everyone from kids (who I doubt understand the disease) all the way to former presidents went along.

That raises point 2.  How to reach that critical mass.  This challenge happened almost entirely via social media, specifically Facebook.  I think it’s a seminal moment and points out how media has changed.  What implications does it have for marketing?  The big one, besides the use of “new” media to activate a consumer base, is that organic growth bests anything we can manufacture.  The ALS Foundation didn’t start this – a consumer did.  How do we get our influencer bases to do the same?

We can enjoy the silliness of the Ice Bucket Challenge in the face of a horrible disease.  We can learn from it too.  That’s my take.  Yours?

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August 13, 2014 · 11:31 am

Critics Vs. Trolls

Any of us who work in and around marketing understand that to a large extent consumers control our brands these days.

Troll in Trondheim

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Ask any company that’s run into difficulty with its image due to a social media faux pas or to some bad consumer experience that’s gone viral and they’ll tell you.  I think that brands lay the groundwork – they shape the experience but ultimately consumers are the ones who refine that groundwork into the image the world at large has of a brand.

Given that, and given the need for brands to participate in the social world, they’re going to encounter people who have had either a less than optimal interaction with the brand or who just don’t like whatever it is that the brand is selling/doing.  Those people might use the social tools to let the world know about it since as we know it’s the less happy people who tend to lead brand discussions and not usually the staunch brand advocates (until they’re prompted somehow).  I think it’s important that the recipients of the criticism differentiate between the two main types of people who offer it up:  critics and trolls.  They need to be dealt with differently.

Critics tend to express their displeasure in a thought-out, rational way.  They usually have facts at their disposal and will listen both to other facts and promises to rectify whatever it is that irked them in the first place.  Think of a restaurant review – maybe they just didn’t like the food – that’s opinion.  Or maybe the food arrived cold and slowly – those are facts and problems which can be fixed.  Critics help brands make themselves better.

Trolls, on the other hand, tend to be deliberately inflammatory.  They are not trying to help fix anything – they just want people to respond, start flame wars, and get their jollies this way.  They usually lack facts, they usually direct personal attacks as part of their rants, and harassment and stupidity are the cesspools in which they live.

What does one do?  As we said the other day, you must respond to them both.  Don’t do so by attacking them.  Get your facts straight, point out opinions (which you respect) from facts, and accept that the critics might help you get better.  Trolls go away when no one takes their bait.  Good critics acknowledge improvement and it’s fair to reach out to them once you’ve fixed whatever was wrong.  Our constant focus on the customer means we need to allow them to help us get better even as we continue to shape the brand we want them to see.

Make sense?

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August 11, 2014 · 12:02 pm

The Ostrich Strategy

We’ve all heard the myth that ostriches bury their heads in the sand, particularly when they’re frightened.  It’s not true (hence a myth) – they’re probably turning some eggs they’ve laid.  We used to have a dog – a bulldog! – that would sort of do the same thing when he was scared or had done something bad.  He would turn his head away from you  – we were 100% sure he believed he was invisible: since he can’t see you, you can’t see him.

Many brands seem to be following a similar strategy when it comes to social media and customer complaints.  A few years ago, Bain Consulting conducted a study that  discovered that while 80% of companies believe they deliver ‘superior’ customer experiences to their customers, just 8% of customers agree.  Who is kidding themselves here?

It’s not an occasional problem.  Another study – this one by Social Media Marketing University – showed that 58.2% of brands receive customer complaints via social media ‘occasionally.’ 10.9%receive them ‘somewhat often’ while 4.9% receive them ‘very often.’  So what do they do, given that surveys reported in news media found that customers expect a response to a complaint posted on a brand’s social media account within one hour?  They pretend they’re invisible.  Is that a bad thing?  You tell me:

  • 58.2% of brands receive customer complaints via social media ‘occasionally.’ 10.9 percent receive them ‘somewhat often’ while 4.9% receive them ‘very often.’
  •  26.1%  of brands reputations have been tarnished as a result of negative social media posts; 15.2% lost customers and 11.4% lost revenue.

And here is the kicker:

  • 23.4% of brands not only do not have a strategy in place to manage negative social commentary, but do not have plans to develop one. 24.5% of brands are in the process of developing a strategy and 7.6% have strategies in place that are currently proving to be ineffective.

This isn’t the only survey that found businesses lacking.  Another one which comes from Sprinklr shows that 20% of companies rarely, if ever, respond to customer complaints made via social. The “ostrich strategy” is about the worst choice a business can make.  Putting your head in the sand doesn’t make the issues go away – it just makes it harder for you to hear them as they get louder and louder.  That’s my take.  Yours?

 

 

 

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