Corporate America has come a long way with social media. Companies do a lot more listening and engaging now, thanks to #motrinmoms, Dave Carroll’s guitar and a number of other case studies. And today’s consumer has reciprocated and is not so quick to pile on a brand at the first sign of a negative tweet or Facebook post – see Dooce and Maytag.
Yes, companies have come a long way in embracing social media…but we’ve still got a ways to go. Case in point, the scantily clad spam that showed up on Dunkin Donuts Facebook page earlier this week. I skipped the double D joke here because the good ones have all been taken by bloggers and tweeters J. But if you haven’t heard the story yet, spammers posted some NSFW photos of scantily clad women on DD’s Facebook page earlier this week and they remained up for 12 hours before being removed. When they did remove the photos, Dunkin Donuts posted the apology below.
Consumers were not happy about the spam pics or what many called a “canned” apology and made it known on the brand’s Facebook page and on Twitter. Is this a fiasco? No. Maybe two years ago, but not today. Especially not for a brand that does such a good job engaging the community in the social space. Still, the online community dictates whether or not something like this is an issue. And for a brand that doesn’t have as strong a social presence as DD, the backlash could have been worse.
When a case study like this comes up, the most important question, IMO, is what can companies learn from the example? And how do they need to change to keep it from happening to them?
Monitoring is the first thing that comes to mind. Why wasn’t DD monitoring its Facebook page more closely? Well, I don’t know the folks that monitor DD’s social media, but I’m hesitant to pass judgment too quickly for one reason – resources.
How many companies do you know that have an employee(s) whose sole job is to monitor Facebook, or even social media in general? The more common corporate scenario I’ve seen is someone who already has 50-plus hours of work a week gets asked to monitor the company Facebook page. Or the company hands it off to an intern.
When I did social media training at my previous job, I almost always got this response: “I see the value in social media, but I’m already too busy and no one’s taking anything off my plate.” Social media, Facebook especially, is the new online front door to your brand. Often times, it’s where initial perception is formed along with your website and search. But most companies still don’t prioritize it that way. The website, search, and a multitude of other paid and earned media efforts get more attention, hours and dollars than the brand’s social media presence.
Would you hand off management of your website to someone who was already doing another full-time job? How about an intern? No offense to interns, but I know when I was one I didn’t understand strategy well enough to be managing one of the most important consumer touchpoints a company has. Not to mention, when you hire an intern to manage social media, many times they leave after a few months and you have to train someone new all over again, the online community has to adjust to a new voice, etc. All these things impact your brand. And more important to your leadership, they cost money.
Different prioritization of tactics will make sense for different companies. And social media won’t always be at the top of that list. But one thing is for sure – what happened to Dunkin Donuts could have happened to a lot of other brands. And it will continue to be a risk for organizations that don’t devote the necessary resources to managing their social media presence.
- So what do you think the “necessary resources” are?
- Does your company/clients devote a enough time to monitoring social media?
- How would you go about trying to sell company leadership on re-prioritizing its social media resources?
Great post here, Justin. I agree that staffing resources are an issue here, AND I think those of us on the services side need to continue to educate businesses and brands about the importances of monitoring, moderation, and community moderation. If you’re a large brand and you start publishing on a large social network like Twitter or Facebook, it won’t take long until you start drawing eyeballs, attention, and feedback.
With a commitment to creating content on those channels should also come a commitment to monitor and respond to what’s being said to you and about you there.
Think about it: Would a big retailer open a new physical store to sell its wares but somehow NOT staff it with employees to interact with those customers once they walk through the door? If an angry customer came in and started screaming and throwing merchandise from the shelves to the floor, would a staffer not immediately run over him to find out what was wrong and try to rectify the situation, or perhaps send over a police offer to escort him out?
I think we just have to see that approach translate to online. And with more stories like the one from Dunkin’ Donuts, here’s hoping it happens more quickly!
Hey, Bryan. Thanks for stopping by. Big fan of the store example you gave. Used to use a similar one when discussing customer service via social media at Sprint. Basically, that if a customer complained in one of their stores, the employees would do everything they could to solve the problem. But a customer complains online while sitting in front of a keyboard where they can tell the world about their bad (or good) experience in seconds and companies don’t react the same way.
I think social media looks too easy. You can set up a Facebook page or Twitter account in seconds. You can sign up for a WordPress blog in a couple of minutes. Peoples’ first experience with social media is often on a personal level. They see it takes less than five minutes to have an account and start posting and they think it should be that easy for a brand as well. Not if you want do it right.
I’m sure a major retailer could throw a TV ad together in a few hours if the goal was just to say they were running a commercial. But the majority of marketing and advertising teams would look at you with shock and awe if you ever suggested that.
You are exactly right about the need to continue educating. Stories like DD’s only reiterate how important it is for us to help companies see social media as a place where brand perception is formed and where they have a chance to influence that perception.