Prologue
Part 1 of this post outlined some ways to avoid a social media debacle; but, hindsight is 20/20 (…just ask Nestlé) so this second part looks at some ways of handling/diffusing an ominous social media shit storm looming on the horizon.
Be good.
Companies have always had naysayers and critics, but with social media they are much more capable of connecting, mobilising and plotting their attack. So, if your company isn’t doing the right thing (as related to fair trade, employment, the environment), now might be a good time to reassess.
This is obviously easier said than done (particularly when it involves modifying major components of a business), but just realise that if you continue using unfavourable practices that you’ll likely come under fire for it.
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My presentation on the business application of location-based service Foursquare from last week’s AMI FutureComms workshop:
My Kitchen Sucks!, an IKEA campaign we’ve been working on with Market United launched earlier this week:
Shoddy, dated or just not functional — tell us why your kitchen sucks and you could win an IKEA kitchen to the value of $10,000.
With my partiality duly noted, I’m still gonna say that this campaign is pretty damn awesome.
South Australians and West Australians simply own up to their avocado green appliances, stained and kettle-burned laminate countertops and harvest gold linoleum tiles for the chance to win a brand new $10,000 IKEA kitchen (one to be awarded in each state). Voting is open to the public, and entrants can earn extra points by uploading evidence (photos and floor plans) and by publicly shaming themselves (sharing their entry on Facebook, Twitter and email).
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Note the background image on Kevin's Twitter profile...
With the recent
Nestlé vs.
Greenpeace Facebook debacle and
Kevin Smith live-tweeting as
Southwest Airlines staff kicked him off a flight because he was deemed
“too fat to fly”, some* predict 2010 will be the
Year of the Social Media Crisis. (Y2.01K?!)
Here’s what’s happening:
Companies entering social media without an adequate understanding of the space, insufficient planning & resource allocation
+
Detractors, critics, angry consumers and mommy bloggers [*shiver*] are better able to mobilise and coordinate attacks against said companies
=
[cue doomsday music]
The perfect social media shit storm.
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I traveled over 20,000 kilometers to attend SXSW interactive – a conference referred to by some as ‘spring break for nerds’. Two weeks ago, when I started writing this post (apologies for the delay, family emergency), I had this grandiose plan that I’d write one brilliant post summarising all that I’d seen and learned. I now realise that’s not going to happen because 1. I’m sober now, and 2. SXSW is more about the people you meet (usually over margaritas: see #1) than the panels and keynote speakers.
BUT, since that isn’t much help for the handful of you that weren’t there, here are 4 of my takeaways:
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Your totally awesome Facebook Fan Page is all set up and populated with exclusive behind-the-scenes content – you can almost taste the engagement. …except the fans are nowhere to be found. (side note: “build it and they will come” is one of the greatest lies ever told).
So what now? How do you reel ‘em in? Why with a contest of course! Just pick up a few iPod Nanos to use as prizes (who doesn’t love those things?!) and lay out your conditions for entry… all you must do is become a fan, write on our wall, post a discussion topic, upload a fan photo, tag yourself in said photo, ‘like’ our status update and then tell all your friends about it! Then you can just sit back and watch the fans flock to your page.
Not so fast… while this may have been a quick fix in the past, Facebook tightened the reins on contests with the updated Promotion Guidelines released late last year. Three months later, I’m still seeing heaps of renegade Facebook Pages out there, running their illegal contests, with no regard for the laws of the land. So, I thought some cliff notes might be handy.
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OK so this is a tad self promotional but there’s something in it for you so don’t be too quick to judge. I will be presenting at this year’s Sydney ad:tech and if, despite this announcement, you were still thinking of attending (16th and 17th March) then drop me a line (marc@thinqdigital.com.au) as I can send you a code that scores 20% off your ticket(s). Here endeth the promotion.
"...Mum’s no fool and she’d never shell out more money for less milk."
It’s generally accepted that a litre of milk gets more expensive every year, an unfortunate economic reality we call inflation. But can you imagine how angry mum would be if an additional $0.10 in price was inversely matched by a 50ml reduction in volume? This is all hypothetical of course because mum’s no fool and she’d never shell out more money for less milk.
But this is exactly what’s happening in the world television and press advertising. Less milk (audience) is starting to cost advertisers more money.
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Facebook began six years ago today as a product that my roommates and I built to help people around us connect easily, share information and understand one another better. We hoped Facebook would improve people’s lives in important ways. So it’s rewarding to see that as Facebook has grown, people around the world are using the service to share information about events big and small and to stay connected to everyone they care about.
- Mark Zuckerberg: "Six Years of Making Connections"
I could still feel the warm fuzzies from Zuckerberg’s note when I logged into Facebook and the top post in my newsfeed crapped all over my kumbaya – “I’ve had the new facebook layout for all of 45 minutes and already my fb chat reliability has gone down 90%. F*&$ you Facebook.”
Ah bless, the resistance has begun. But it’s really no surprise; it’s been a tumultuous relationship over the past 6 years…
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Wowza, Facebook just turned 6! That’s really old. It’s even older in the sense of social network years (whose ratio to calendar years must be something like 11:1). And, like any good cougar vying for young’uns, it celebrated the big day with a face lift to its homepage.
My account rolled over to the new homepage today; it’s all about navigation and accessibility this time around:
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