For better or worse, the public has a short memory, and yesterday’s furious anger is tomorrow’s footnote. This means companies large and small can survive bad PR as long as they can ride the occasional wave up and down.
For example, considering how much negative publicity was generated in the mainstream media when NPR fired Juan Williams, you might have thought NPR would be destined for funding crises and possible financial collapse. Instead, as recent pledge drive numbers have shown, NPR’s donation numbers remained remarkably consistent despite all the media rhetoric.
So, if negative PR can’t sink a company… what can it do?
Ironically, bad PR’s biggest boon just might be providing useful feedback for the companies in question.
In the case of NPR, one of the lessons they learned was that the bulk of their angry commentary was coming from people who weren’t regular donors in the first place. As Paul Farhi in The Washington Post reports:
Several station managers say the angriest responses have been from people who appeared not to be regular contributors, based on their cross-referencing caller and e-mailers’ names with databases of donors.
If that’s the case, NPR might downplay similar criticisms in the future since such commentary is most likely to come from far outside their core supportive audience. Or, they could further investigate the issues at hand (freedom of speech, racial profiling, discriminatory practices) with the intention of appealing to that very same outsider audience. Or, they might even fan the same flames that caused such an uproar in the first place, as a way to differentiate the actions of their brand from their competitors.
However NPR or any other company chooses to react to a sudden swirl of negative publicity, one thing is becoming increasingly clear: although social media may help messages spread faster than ever, its continual flood of information also helps good and bad PR disappear from the public’s memory faster than ever.
As usual, the top videos are a mixture of humor, spectacle and quality (OK Go, Antoine Dodson, “Double Rainbow”). But perhaps most surprising among the Top 10 is the inclusion of the original Old Spice Super Bowl ad that spawned the company’s ongoing TV and web campaign.
Why is that surprising?
Because, simply put, there’s no reason that anyone online ever needs to watch an ad.
Yes, you may have to watch an ad in order to get to the video you actually want or need to watch, but when you have complete control of your online time, there aren’t many cases when you’ll consciously choose to spend it being marketed to.
At best, a good web video ad is one that doesn’t aggravate us while we’re waiting for our chosen video to load.
Humor, spectacle and quality. Those traits were commonly seen in this year’s (and, really, every year‘s) most-watched videos. Old Spice happened to combine them all into one video, and did so in a way that surprised the media at large — which, as a result, couldn’t stop sharing these videos.
Because no one expected Old Spice to reinvent themselves in this manner, doing so created a series of talking points that pushed these videos to the forefront of everyone’s infostream.
Can your brand do that? Doubtful. Catching lightning in a bottle is an annual rarity. Not every ad campaign will be “the new Old Spice.” In fact, almost all of them won’t.
And that’s actually good news.
Trying to be the most popular video on the web is going to be an exercise in frustration that distracts from your company’s actual goal: to be profitable. Is Old Spice happy that they greenlit a popular ad? Sure. Are they happier that Old Spice sales skyrocketed as a result? Undoubtedly.
So instead of trying to produce the most-watched video of 2011, focus on producing videos that increase your brand’s audience awareness and drive sales. (Or, if you’re a non-profit, create videos that drive awareness and donations, as these popular videos for Toronto-based charities have done.)
And if you have a sense of humor about it, so much the better.
You may know actor Ed Norton from films like Rounders, Red Dragon and American History X. What you may not know is that Ed Norton is also one of many celebrities who’ve embraced the power of social media to create real, tangible change among real people, from America to Africa.
And it just so happens that one of Norton’s ventures is directly benefiting one of our clients, the Children’s Aid Society, all because one person decided to make a difference.
For example, one Crowdrise member is currently raising money for the Children’s Aid Society. Her goal is to raise $1000 and, at the time of this writing, she’s more than halfway there. And while the Children’s Aid Society certainly stands to benefit from any funds raised on their behalf, the knowledge and experience that the donors and organizers glean from taking part in the effort can’t be overstated, either.
In other words, if your supporters are using their own crowdfunding initiatives to raise awareness of all the wonderful things your organization does, aren’t those the kinds of supporters you want to empower?
And if helping your favorite charity raise money becomes an experience that helps you understand the true value of a cause, doesn’t everybody win?
This excellent summary of 24 different fundraising tools to help non-profits (and artists alike) raise support for their initiatives highlights a different use for social media than we usually discuss: giving.
Charities, community organizations and other non-profits usually rely on the generosity of their supporters to stay operational. And, traditionally, those supporters have been directly connected to an organization by geography, history or community.
This meant the web of potential donors to a cause was limited to those who knew about it, had worked with it before, or knew someone who was involved with it. Growing beyond that initial scope meant increasing awareness of the initiative, and few organizations reliant on donations have had the budget for non-operational expenses like advertising and public relations.
But social media changes that paradigm.
Today, complete strangers can find your charity on Facebook.
Today, people half a world away can be informed about your community endeavors on YouTube.
Today, people you’ll never meet face-to-face can choose to invest $5 or $5,000 in your idea, if they believe you can accomplish your stated goals.
Suddenly, charity is a story that travels beyond borders. It finds commonality among people with shared interests, mutual concerns, or similar experiences. A project that’s intended to benefit a single community, or even a single family, can be brought to the attention of millions, if the story travels well.
Are you using social media to find supporters who believe in your cause?
Are you transmitting your passion to the people who can help you succeed?
Is the problem you’re solving in your community setting an example that would help people on the other side of the globe?
Congratulations: it’s never been easier to share your story — and to find the people who can help you achieve your dreams.
Need help sharing your story? That’s what we do. Connect with us on Twitter or Facebook!
Social media is about people. Companies are about profit. Finding ways to bridge that gap can sometimes seem tricky.
But there’s one commonality that’s always worth discussing: charity.
Most companies have at least one charitable cause that they feel passionate about, usually for personal reasons. And whenever your company invests their time and effort in a cause other than direct profit, that’s a potential feel-good story that your employees and your customers can get behind.
Ouidad and her family have been personally affected by breast cancer. In response, Ouidad founded her own charity to help raise funds for cancer research.
Why do we mention our clients’ non-profit endeavors?
Because they’re the kinds of stories that remind customers how the products they purchase are, ultimately, created by human beings. These are the conversations that help the people on both sides of the storefront find a common ground, and remove the barriers that make us think of all businesses as impersonal moneymaking machines.
Ultimately, social media and business are about people.
Your company is people.
Don’t forget to remind your customers — and yourselves.
Want to connect with us more personally? Follow us on Twitter or Facebook!
Even if you’re not a non-profit, there’s still at least one core value in Ad Age’s article that applies to your business:
Make sure your program has a way to prove to this group that their involvement made a difference. Sixty-four percent of young adults say they would get involved with a marketer’s program if they believed the involvement was large enough to make a difference.
That’s great news for non-profits, but how does this need for actionable results translate to a for-profit business?
Actually, for the consumer, the payoff is the same. But one message feels better than the other.
Help Me Help You
For a charity to succeed in social media, its messaging must convince recipients that their actions will have a demonstrable positive effect on the cause at hand — which, by association, improves the recipient’s own life.
For a business to succeed in social media, its messaging must convince recipients that their actions will have a demonstrable positive effect directly on their own lives.
So, in both cases, the message’s recipient ultimately has to make a choice, which can directly (or indirectly) improve her own life.
The difference?
Charities seek to motivate individuals to help others. That’s a positive feeling we can all appreciate.
Meanwhile, businesses encourage individuals to help themselves. That feeling is sometimes harder to justify.
Doing Business Without the Guilt?
Whom do your products help?
How is someone’s life improved by purchasing your services?
Are you saving someone time? Are you helping someone get better at what they love?
Is your company investing in the future through education, ecology or other social good?
These are the kinds of proactive messages that can help people feel better about business — yours, in particular — and may help mitigate the guilt reflex associated with purchases.
Remember: social media is people. And when you help people feel better about themselves, you’ve erased one more barrier between you and them.
Politics — and political correctness — are tricky things. Everyone’s entitled to their own beliefs, but when a business becomes associated with a political sound bite, those beliefs can create a PR problem. (See our previous post about what PR can’t help you do in a crisis.)
Back in 2007, Don Imus made a now-infamous remark about the Rutgers women’s basketball team. As the news media swirled around the controversy, his sponsors (including our client, Bigelow Tea), were caught in the middle. They each had to make a choice: continue to sponsor Imus’s show, or retract their sponsorship as an ethical statement?
After considering all possibilities, Bigelow did something all too rare in the business world: they led with their gut.
They publicly denounced Imus’s statement and disagreed with its sentiment, but they also continued to support him. It was a fine line to walk, supporting an individual while disagreeing with a particular choice he’d made.
Needless to say, the public took aim at Bigelow. Their blog became a clearing house for all kinds of opinions, from people who admired Bigelow’s judgment to those who vowed to never buy Bigelow again. The noise got so loud, even mainstream press, like CNN and others, visited the blog to research Bigelow’s position so they could then interview Cindi Bigelow, President of Bigelow Tea, about the company’s decision.
Had Bigelow acted differently in this case, they might not have needed to make a public statement. They might not even have needed to mention their choice at all. But with our support and guidance, they opted to use the two-way channel of their blog to speak directly with the people most concerned about the incident, and to understand exactly why their choice may or may not have upset their potential (and existing customers).
In the end, like most tempests in a teapot, the Imus issue was resolved and the public turned their attention to newer, shinier controversies. Meanwhile, Bigelow Tea’s own market share continued to grow, with the exposure — both positive and negative — from the incident doing little to curb their long-term sales.
And when Imus landed a new radio show, Bigelow was there to sponsor him again. In fact, Cindi Bigelow herself was part of the Imus Radiothon this past week, helping to raise money for children battling cancer.
So… do we all make mistakes? Absolutely. But we also make good choices, too.
When judging a person — or a brand — it helps to take the whole of their actions into account. And with the reach and permanence of social media, it’s easier than ever for discerning consumers to research the brands they’re interested in and decide for themselves which companies are worth supporting.
If there’s one recurring reason companies are reluctant to embrace social media, it’s that “something could go wrong.” But when something else goes wrong in your company, are you prepared to use social media as a way to steady the ship?
Eileen O’Brien has an excellent summary of Johnson & Johnson’s recent use of social media to help manage the information flow surrounding their recall of Tylenol and other medications. And while Twitter and blogs aren’t the only resources a company should turn to in times of crisis, savvy communicators realize that their customers sometimes rely on social media for real-time news.
Consider Wyclef Jean’s response to doubts about the financial clarity of his charity, YELE, after an article in The Smoking Gun called its accounting practices into question. Instead of ignoring the mounting firestorm, Wyclef issued an official statement at a formal press conference (which may not necessarily have helped alleviate concerns). But he also posted a video to YouTube regarding his feelings about the situation, which, at the time of this post, has been viewed over 300,00 times — and that’s not counting the numerous duplicates spread around the web.
The lesson? People love to share information, and in times of crisis, you’d like that information to be coming from you.
These days, being able to deliver pertinent, accurate information to people when and where they expect to see it is safer than expecting them to be herded to a single focal point. Twitter moves at the speed of misinformation, and the last thing your company needs during a potential crisis is to lose control of the facts due to rapidly spreading inaccuracies. Better to have a contingency plan in place to mitigate misinformation in advance than to cobble together a response after the story’s already been told.
No business is immune to mistakes, because businesses are made of people, and human beings are notoriously imperfect. Disasters strike. Accidents happen. But not being prepared for the unknown is no one’s idea of a smart business plan.
On December 6, The Children’s Aid Society (our client) will have their biggest fundraiser of the year: Miracle on Madison. Every year, stores up and down Madison Avenue donate a portion of that day’s proceeds to help provide health services and other crucial necessities to children in need.
We’re proud to be a part of this year’s Miracle on Madison, and we look forward to seeing hundreds of holiday shoppers chipping in to help those most in need of a happier holiday.
If you’re taking part in this year’s Miracle on Madison, use the hashtag #ShopMiracle on Twitter and Flickr, so The Children’s Aid Society in New York can find your photos and feedback!
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