Tuesday, November 18th, 2008
One of the great results from a more open and social internet is the power that becomes vested in the people. It allows them to get the things they need - information, products, negotiation power, support, ideas - from each other instead of having to rely on companies.
This is great for us, and can be troubling for businesses. Many companies have learned to adapt and to harness the listening and speaking power that is found in a more social internet. They adopt their strategies and engage with their customers effectively. These companies get it and are benefiting from it.
Occationally there are uprising within the social web that cause headache and trouble that companies are not used to. Recently
Johnson and Johnson pulled an online advertisement for its over-the-counter pain pill Motrin after it triggered protest on the Internet from consumers who thought the ad was an insensitive portrayal of women’s pain.
The incident illustrates how quickly consumer response on so-called social-media sites can influence corporate behavior.
Johnson & Johnson are one of the companies that “get it” and I beleive responded well to the uprising. Their response helps keep loyalty to their brand and, I imagine, spared them additional costs in marketing and in brand repair.
With my new company, Latitude Interactive, we have begun helping businesses thrive in the social media space by helping them create and monitor communities. We are targeting certain industry’s right now and will roll our services out to other industrys soon.
Tags: customer service, social backlash, social media
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