How social media can make or break a company

As you all know, social media is a major game player for any business, whether they have a social media account or not. Organizations NEED to have accounts and have people who monitor them, so that they do not end up like the companies mentioned below.

It is incredibly easily for a disgruntled customer to trash talk a company through social media, especially Twitter. Since most people have public accounts, their tweets are available to view for all. It simply takes an @ sign or a hash-tag (#) to create bad PR for any organization.

I for one am a HUGE FAN of this, because instead of spending a large amount of time on the phone with an unhelpful customer service representative, I can send a simple tweet full of hate. Within a short amount of time, I am usually tweeted back or direct messaged asking how they can help.

A great example of this is Wells Fargo (formally Wachovia). On numerous occasions I have tweeted to them about various issues with my account and have been promptly met with better customer service than available on their website, on the phone, or in the store. These tweets are not always the nicest ones either…but they get the job done.

“@WellsFargo An overdraft transfer fee? WTF!!! @Wachovia never charged me a fee, because way2save was built in automatic.#bullshit“

The worst thing in this day and age is for a bad experience to become vocalized to more than just a customers’ immediate circle; but to spread around social media like an uncontrollable wildfire. So here are my top 3 social media blunders of 2012 (yes, there have already been enough to make a list.)

#3 McDonalds & the hash-tag fiasco  

I find this one quite hilarious. McDonalds thought of a great plan to get people talking about their brand on Twitter by having them share their memories about McDonalds with the hash-tag #McDStories. It sounds like a good idea…or at least it did, until it totally backfired! Instead of receiving  tons of happy stories, they were inundated with bad ones. This caused them to pull the campaign a mere two hours after launching it.

“I used to like McDonalds. I stopped eating McDonalds years ago because every time I ate it I felt like I was dying inside. #McDStories“

I am sure in the next version of communication studies textbooks, this will be in there under the subtitle “How to not succeed in a Twitter campaign.”

#2 Toyota Camry Give-a-Way

Toyota took to Twitter to give-a-way free Camry’s during the Super Bowl. One tiny problem, they spammed everyone who was talking about the game by sending out @ messages such as this one.

“How are you getting ready for Sunday? Make sure you’re prepared for your chance to win a Camry.”

These messages were sent from 10 verified Twitter accounts to thousands of people, creating a backlash. What gave Toyota the right the spam thousands of people? Nothing. Toyota released a statement the next day apologizing for the messages. I am sure this will be in the textbooks as “Reasons why you plan every detail of a campaign.”

#1 Valentines Day & 1-800-NOflowers.com 

Valentines Day…that awful day when couples show their love for one-another by giving each other gifts, in order to make us singles jealous of them. Unfortunately for hundreds of customers, their flowers and gifts did not arrive on time. 1-800-Flowers.com guaranteed delivery by/on Valentines Day for their customers, but did not deliver. If they did, the flowers were unsatisfactory (one customer tweeted that his roses arrived decapitated!)

Not only are people taking to Twitter complaining about not recieving their promised items, but also to complain about the lack of customer service from 1-800-Flowers.com. Some claimed that they were on hold for eternity, or sometimes simply hung-up on.

1-800-Flowers.com hasn’t released any statements yet and has employed a few pour souls (Rachel, Tyne, Stacey, & Stephanie) to respond too all complaints by @ messaging people with the request

“Please send me your order number, ur name, recip name, delivery date & order issue so I can resolve. Thanks!”

Oh, and this is just their Twitter feed…imagine their Facebook wall.

Hmm…looks like 1-800-Flowers.com just lost a lot of business. Today their homepage has this current advertisement.

Seems that 1-800-Flowers.com needs to send itself some cheer-up flowers before they try and fulfill orders for those who”forgot” about Valentines Day. It is unclear whether or not the undelivered orders will be fullfilled or the money refunded, but 1-800-Flowers.com is NOT doing what they should be doing. While they are working on Twitter, more tweets have just appeared that they are DELETING bad Facebook posts.

Now, that is a BIG NO-NO! Did they not learn anything from Nestle? I can not WAIT to see how this plays out over the next few days. What heading will this be under in the textbooks? “How to destroy your business through social media.”

Social Media: Two words that changed marketing forever

It is quite obvious in this day and age that social media dominates our lives. Just think about the number of times you check your Facebook or Twitter feeds. Is it just out of boredom, for fun, to stalk people, or out of addiction? For me it is a combination of all four. Social media websites rule our lives! Our entire existence is online, in the form of posts, embarrassing pictures, funny videos, etc…

When social media first came about last decade, no one could have imagined its’ wealth and power. Facebook filed to go public today. How much is Facebook worth? Apparently $5 billion, at least for the initial public offering. I can only imagine this number increasing as Facebook becomes more engrained in our lives and more valuable. Facebook wants to be the “go to” site for everything, from pictures, to videos, to games, to job searching, to marketing, EVERYTHING that can be done online, they want to do.

So this brings me to my topic, how social media has completely revolutionized marketing. Now any business can have a a Facebook page or Twitter (not to exclude the countless other social media sites). It is so easy to connect with customers and upload interactive contact to convince followers that they must buy your product. Social media allows for conversations, contests, photo-sharing, all of which are beneficial for an organization.

Businesses can not only just interact with people through social media, but also advertise. Yes, those annoying ads on the side of Facebook that are always eerily representative of your life. Advertising via social media is big business, and not just for the businesses, but for the websites themselves. In 2010, Facebook made $1.86 billion off ads alone. WOW…how insane! Does anyone actually click those ads? I know I don’t, but apparently somewhere out there, someone is clicking on those ads. Yes, I will admit it. While I have a mind of a marketeer, I would never click on an online ad.

Advertisements aside, marketing through social media is a huge money making tool, and more businesses are jumping on the bandwagon. Proctor & Gamble announced this week that they are laying off 1,600 employees worldwide, most from the marketing department. This blows my mind. Marketing has always meant job security, as it makes the company money and they are willing to pay good money for skilled marketeers. Instead, P&G is focusing their efforts on digital media, more importantly social media.

This is a sign of the times, social media is changing marketing forever. Gone are the days of billboards, print ads, and TV advertisements. In its’ place is interactive online content posted through FREE social media websites.

The next question is “When will social media websites CAPITALIZE on this free publicity, and begin to charge businesses for social media profiles?” Who knows, but social media is no longer about connecting with others, it is about business and making money.

Now, if only one of these businesses would hire me to do their social media. 🙂

Why the world needs PR

As a recent college graduate, I always get asked two questions. 1. What did you major in? 2. What do you plan on doing with your life?

When I reply communication studies, I usually am met with a blank stare of “Umm…I have no idea what that is, so I’m just gonna stare until they explain what that is.”  So I then proceed to give some layman’s phrase such as “In a gist, I can communicate with others easily.”  This is met with an even more awkward stare/smirk. I know that they are then thinking “Wow! That guy just went to school to learn how to talk to people. What a waste.”

I just don’t want to bore them with my personal definition of communication, it is over their head. That is when the 2nd question is asked. To which I respond either public relations, integrated marketing communication, or digital media.

BAM! I just blew their mind away. I always get responses such as “Wow, that sounds hard! How exciting! I could never do that job! Cool!” This is when I smile a think to myself, “That’s right, it is hard, now if you could please retract that condescending smirk and thoughts, it would be greatly appreciated.” 🙂

This brings me to the topic: Why the world needs PR.

Why do we have PR? Can’t people just understand a company’s point of view and accept it? No.

PR is essential for an organization to succeed. The public’s perception of an organization can make the difference between financial success and failure. If you have a good image with the public, chances are they will be more willing to pay for your services. PR professionals help maintain this image, and without them, companies can and will founder. With this in mind, why does PR have such a negative connotation associated with it? I know why, it’s because of the media, PR’s double-edged sword.

Organizations need the media to cover all of the “good” things they are doing within the business  for the community. Unfortunately, “good things” don’t make “good stories & ratings.” This is why a negative story about an organization will always make headlines, which leads to the negative connotation of PR.  The general public thinks that PR is about covering things up, making things seem better than they really are, aka DECEPTION. The public only sees the bad that PR can do (sometimes just bad planning/press). Just look at Business Insiders 15 Biggest PR Disasters of the Decade  If any of these organizations had just consulted with their PR Department, some of these blunders could have been avoided.

Hence why the world needs PR. These professionals, such as myself, not only help maintain a positive image with the public, but also can help prevent an organization from making mistakes that lead to the incidents.

PR professionals should never be the first to be cut in bad economic times, even more so in this digital age. We are an incredibly valuable asset…but that is another topic for another time.