Today, Domino’s Pizza is celebrating.  Its second quarter profits were up 55% and the public is embracing their (heavily-promoted) new pizza.

So what happened?

Domino’s didn’t panic.

Yes, the situation looked grim in April of 2009.  But Domino’s calmly realized one key truth about humans:

People Forget.

Elsewhere, BP executives are breathing a sigh of relief.  After their oil spill dominated US headlines for three months, the spill seems to be over, and the news cycle has predictably cycled onward to newer topics.  (This, after BP was simultaneously implicated in helping free the Lockerbie bomber in exchange for oil pipeline rights in Libya.)

And how have these global PR calamities affected BP’s stock price?  We’ll know more in the near future, but judging by the way BP’s first-quarter profits doubled, we doubt any of their year-end bonuses are in peril.

So, if Domino’s couldn’t be toppled by blatant employee malfeasance, and BP couldn’t be dented by massive ecological and political disaster, what kind of negative PR could possibly ruin a company?

What about a bad joke?

I’m Only Laughing Because It Hurts

In 1991, Gerald Ratner told the same joke he’d told dozens of times before.  But this time, the punchline punched back.

This time, the media construed Ratner’s quip about “crap,” which was directed at the low-end merchandise sold by his family business, Ratners Jewellers, to imply that he was laughing at the outrageous prices his customers were willing to pay.  When Ratner tried to clarify and apologize, the media literally handed him enough rope to hang himself (or at least a toy gun and a front page photo), and his career was over.

The lesson?

Bad PR happens to every company.  But how a company reacts to that PR determines whether or not the incident causes a scratch or sinks the ship.

Domino’s apologized and fired the offenders.  BP burnished their image and weathered the storm.  And Ratners fumbled.

So when we see each new story about an unthinkable PR disaster — like Air Canada ruining a dying boy’s charity fundraiser — we should certainly be outraged at the parties who deserve our scorn.

But, as marketers, we should also be aware of a sobering (and sometimes sad) fact:

Eventually, people forget.

(Unless you make it worse.)

But don’t forget about us! We’re also on Twitter and Facebook!

This online database of social media policies includes the communications guidelines and handbooks used by dozens of companies, from About.com to Yahoo (sorry, no “Z” companies listed yet). Maybe you’d like to know how Coca-Cola advises its employees (PDF) to conduct themselves online, or how the Mayo Clinic moderates comments?

And if your company frequently represents the messages of others, there’s a solution for that, too.

For example, we here at Creative Concepts have our own internal social media policy (downloadable here), which separates our actions as individuals from our actions on behalf of our clients.

Why?

Because our creative team holds a variety of opinions, ideas and beliefs, and we believe that we should be free to express ourselves as ourselves. But when we’re speaking on behalf of our clients, we ensure that there’s a proper separation of our personalities & philosophies and theirs.

We’re not alone. In the Coca-Cola example above, their policy clarifies the difference between speaking “on behalf of the company” and speaking “about” the company. They also designate which groups of employees are expected to respond to certain conversations (such as negative commentary about the company), and how. (Because no one wants to be the next “Nestle vs. Greenpeace” case study of a conversation gone wrong.)

The lesson? Social media is embraceable by companies of all sizes. But strategy and planning isn’t just for your outward-facing messages; it’s also a necessity for helping your employees know what’s expected of them.

Want to learn more? Connect with us on Twitter or Facebook!

Yes, your customers enjoy “bells & whistles” like online customer service or access to social networks, but if they can’t figure out what your product costs — or how to buy it — they won’t come back.

Usability is all about clarity + expectations.  Your customers expect a certain experience when they walk through your digital doors.  How well you live up to those expectations determines how good they’ll feel about their experience with you — and, how likely they are to return.

But what do your customers expect from your social media channels?

What Problems Is Your Social Media Solving — and How?

If you use social media for customer service…

• How quickly should customers expect an answer to their questions?
• Should they expect you to “hear” them, even if they don’t contact you directly?
• Is your social outreach a lead-in to phone-based or email-based customer support, or should customers expect to have their problems solved entirely within the framework of Twitter or Facebook?

If you use social media for marketing and promotions…

• How often should customers expect updates from you about new deals?
• How easily can customers convert those updates to actions (like sales)?
• Can your customers control the frequency of your updates?
• Are these updates different from your emails, blog posts, snail mail, etc?
• Can your customers ask questions about your messages, or are your channels only aimed one-way?  (If so, where can a customer go for interactive assistance?)

If you use social media to foster a personal community within your brand’s culture…

• Do your customers know who’s speaking on the company’s behalf?
• What topics or questions are “fair game” or “off-limits,” and why?
• Will customer comments be moderated?
• What constitutes “acceptable behavior” in your digital community?
• Should customers expect to be sold to while they’re engaging with the community?

If you don’t know the answers to these questions now, that’s okay.  You can still implement a social media strategy, and then amend it as you learn from your customers’ feedback.

But let your customers know that you’re learning from them and adapting to their input.  Not only is that a crucial aspect of social media transparency, but it helps your customers know where they stand, what might change, and why.

Just as your own employees need a social media policy to govern their internal (and their public-facing) social media conduct, your customers deserve to know what’s expected of them — and what they should expect from you.

Want to know what to expect from us?  Follow us on Twitter and find out.

There was just one problem: the metrics Bigelow cited in that video were outdated.  Newer studies had clarified the expected levels of caffeine after natural decaffeination, and they differed from the numbers in the video.

Fortunately, one astute viewer noticed this discrepancy and brought it to Bigelow’s attention.

Even better?  Bigelow listened.

Initially, they hoped they could fix those numbers with updated graphics, but there was no way around the numbers Cindi Bigelow herself was saying aloud throughout the how-to section.

So, in the end, they opted to have Creative Concepts (that’s us) reshoot the whole video and replace it across all video outlets.  Cindi even tracked two of the most recent studies the night before the video was filmed, just to ensure that the numbers were still in line.

In Bigelow’s view, sharing accurate information is far more important than cutting corners.  They pride themselves on providing their customers with insights and information they can count on, and when those facts and figures are in dispute, they take their corrections very seriously.

How committed to clarity is your company?  (And are they listening to their customers to make sure their messages are being heard… and heard correctly?)

To make sure you’re hearing us correctly, follow us on Twitter.

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.

Want to remove another barrier between us? Follow us on Twitter!

Thinking outside the box (as usual), Mack Collier asks a valid question: if your brand wants an evangelist, why not hire a customer?

Mack’s example cites the case of Bruce’s Yams, whose Twitter presence is powered by yam-loving Amber (aka MissDestructo), a fan of their product who pitched them on the opportunity to preach their virtues online.  Wisely, Bruce’s Yams said yes.

Who wouldn’t want to see that kind of passion put to good use?

But Bruce’s Yams isn’t the only company with fiercely loyal fans.  Odds are, your brand has its fair share of passionistas too.  And when you thank them for their patronage and invite them further into your company’s culture, you enable them to share in your company’s success.

5 Ways to Reward Your Customers as Brand Evangelists

• Share links to the people who talk about you. Not to what they said, mind you; to what they’re doing.  Show that you care about your customers’ lives beyond the traditional customer-provider relationship, and you’ll help foster a relationship that personalizes both of you.
• Free samples — early, often, repeatedly and unannounced. Notice that someone said something positive about you online?  Instead of thanking them publicly, send them a thank-you note, a coupon code or a free sample, and an invitation to beta test your next product or app.
• Donate to the charity of their choice. Everyone has a pet cause, and if you added up all the causes your own customers care about, you’d likely find a few overlapping concerns: health, education, the environment, etc.  Invite your customers to pitch you on the charities they’re passionate about, and donate funds or resources to the ones you can’t stop thinking about either.
• Send “thank you” notes instead of “cease and desist” orders. Don’t get us wrong; copyrights and trademarks are certainly worth defending.  But there’s a difference between detractors who use your logo, mascot or other intellectual property to disparage your brand and the people who use those same assets to celebrate their love of what you do.  Make sure your PR and legal team can tell the difference.  Encouraging your fans to share (or even mash-up) your brand’s identity can create public goodwill, as well as new touchpoints for future customer awareness and interaction.
• Leak important information to your “valued insiders.” Your biggest fans will trumpet your latest achievements far more loudly than any impartial news organization would — and they’ll help you build advance buzz in the process, all for the privilege of being granted a peek behind the corporate curtain.

Yes, “official” promotional plans will always have their place.  But in these days of “peer reviews” and word of mouth marketing, your brand needs to do whatever it can to help your customers help you help them.

Business means sales. Without sales, you have no business. We get that.

As its root, social media is just another spoke on the sales wheel, driving revenue alongside everything else your business does. It’s not sexy, but it’s true. In business, everything is supplemental to sales.

But here’s a question.

Let’s say you never had to worry about sales again.

Let’s say your company was guaranteed to grow profitably for a century.

In that hypothetical universe, what else would you use social media for?

Maybe you’d focus on customer service.

Maybe you’d focus on shared knowledge.

Maybe you’d focus on efficiency.

No matter what you decide, your options would all have one thing in common: they’d be customer-centric.

Once you no longer need to obsess over sales, you’re free to make your customer’s (and your employees’) lives easier. Because the more your customers and your employees appreciate you, the more loyal they’ll become, and the more they’ll share your brand with the people they value.

Tony Hsieh believed so strongly in the proactive culture he’d built at Zappos that he realized the only way to save his company from the quick trigger finger of his recession-strapped investors was to sell it to Amazon — a move that enabled him to keep his customer-centric culture intact.

He was concerned that his employees would jump ship after the announcement. Instead, they rejoiced, because they knew their livelihoods and their values would be preserved. And, in the aftermath of the sale, Zappos remains just as profitable as it’s always been.

You don’t delight customers by obsessing over sales. But sometimes you do get sales by obsessing over your customers.

So… how is your company making your customers’ lives better?

Image by Iain Browne.

But there was one problem with the article: in Ecover’s eyes, the methodology that Which? used to create the report was flawed, erroneous and misinformed — and now it was being reported as a verifiable truth.

Ecover responded with a full rebuttal of Which?’s claims, including a direct statement from Ecover’s CEO, Mick Bremans. And while the tempest appeared to subside, we at Creative Concepts helped Ecover remain vigilant for continued mentions of the report across all of its web channels.

When one Twitter user, Jane C Woods, tweeted a link to the Guardian’s article, Ecover’s Kipling Wagner noticed and responded by sending Jane a link to Ecover’s rebuttal. Afterward, Jane — who’s an Ecover customer in the UK — took the opportunity to ask Kipling a question about a problem she was having with her dishwasher, which she believed may have been caused by Ecover’s dishwashing products. Kipling and Jane each researched the issue — Kipling within Ecover, and Jane with her repairman — and each came to a similar conclusion, with steps to remedy the situation.

We (CC) asked Kipling and Jane about their discussion on Twitter, and here’s what they had to say.

Kipling Wagner, Assistant Marketing Manager and Brand Activator at Ecover, Inc

CC: How did you first discover Jane’s tweet re: the Which? article?

KW: I saw Jane’s tweet through my monitoring alerts on Tweetdeck.

CC: Why did you feel compelled to share Ecover’s rebuttal with her directly?

KW: I felt compelled to share it with her directly because of a combination of details. I looked at her other tweets to gauge what type of twitterer she is (was she sending out quality messages? Interacting with people positively? Was she influencing others? All of which she seemed to be). I also noticed that someone had thanked her for sharing the original Which? article, and this alarmed me because I knew this article was gaining momentum virally. If people were looking to her tweets for trustworthy information, I knew I had to share our side.

CC: How did you go about investigating her question re: her dishwashing issue?

KW: She replied to me, thanking me for the Which? article clarification, and then followed it with a product question. I was reluctant to answer because she is in the UK and we’re in the US, and I was worried about the invisible boundaries and crossing lines within our own company. Now I was interacting with a UK consumer, not just a UK tweeter. First, I let her know I had seen her question, and then I sent an email to our communications department to confirm with them my suspicions on why she was having said issue. Once they got back to me, I let her know the verdict.

CC: How do you feel about the exchange thus far? How has it been beneficial to you / Ecover?

KW: Absolutely beneficial. Although she’s way over in the UK, the boundaries on the web are non-existent. It’s important that we’re able to take a potentially negative situation – spreading of an inaccurate depiction of Ecover through questionable journalism – and turn it into an informed and positive exchange. Also, Ecover is very focused on being honest and transparent, so having the (new) ability, thanks to Twitter, to talk to someone about their concerns (like the Which? article) and then wind up resolving a product issue is priceless. I value that Twitter allows us to do all of this with our audience. It’s like “super practice” for those of us in marketing to be able to work out issues with our consumers, all under the watchful eye of others; we learn more about our own company and products and our consumers at the same time. It’s very rewarding.

Jane C Woods, Personal Development Specialist for Women

CC: How did you originally come across the Which? report?

JW: I am a regular subscriber to Which?.

CC: Were you surprised when Kipling contacted you with Ecover’s response?

JW: Very surprised. Initially, it ‘freaked’ me a bit, as it felt a tad ‘big brotherish;’ but then I realised that all big companies keep an eye out for discussion of their products.

CC: How did Ecover’s rebuttal change your opinion of the Which? report (if at all)?

JW: It didn’t really. Although I guess I would agree that the Which? report hadn’t gone into huge amounts of detail. I had had a problem with Ecover for a while in that my machine does get gummed up. Repairman said it’s a common problem with Ecover type products, and I also had to put some cleaning fluid through my machine… which kind of defeats the object doesn’t it?

CC: Was Kipling’s advice about your dishwasher problem helpful?

JW: Yes, in that it was the same advice as given by the repairman, i.e., run a very hot wash now and again, and run it empty. I do leave the drawer open, but I’m not convinced that will help.

CC: Do you frequently engage with businesses on Twitter? Do you find these kinds of digital interactions beneficial?

JW: Yes, often. I also tend to use Twitter to promote my business. It’s very helpful and it encourages me to buy from companies I have tweeted!

********

Considering Jane’s ongoing concerns about her dishwasher, we expect more discussions between Kipling and Jane — and between Ecover and their growing international customer base — in the future.

After all, every problem has a solution, and those solutions almost always involve a conversation.

Is your business talking — and listening — to customers?

But we also encourage our clients to think outside the box, and find innovative ways to surprise and delight their customers by using these tools in unconventional ways.  One way we do this is by studying how other sectors use these same tools in non-marketing ways, and then innovating in reverse.

For example, the folks at OnlineUniversities recently compiled a list of 100 Inspiring Ways to Use Social Media in the Classroom.  Their tips include:

• Study geography. Use a combination of Twitter and Google Earth to help teach geography-based lessons. This teacher used his network of Twitter followers to create an interactive lesson for his young students. Use her idea to spark your creativity for ways to use these two resources.
• Connect with other classrooms. Collaborate with another classroom, no matter where they are in the world, to expand learning opportunities.
• Window to daily life at school. Create a website like the one at University of Chicago Law School. that allows visitors to hear from students and professors about their daily life at law school.

Which made us wonder… if these approaches work in the classroom, how might they also work in the boardroom?  Or in R&D?  Or sales?

Such as…

• Get a global snapshot of your customers’ realities. Twitter makes it easy to follow users from around the world and receive their updates in real time.  By following your customers in different markets / time zones / continents, you’ll have a constant stream of incoming data that describes their lives and their needs.  And when they share breaking news in their region, your company has the opportunity to act on immediate information and stay ahead of the news cycle.
• Connect with brand evangelists. If consumers love your brand, they’ll want to know about new products and services ASAP.  You could send your top 100 customers the same email blast that you send to your other 99,000 customers… or you could invite those loyalists to take part in Twitter conversations, Facebook discussions and even Skype conferences.  Reward their support by offering them increased access and they’ll reward you with feedback, leads and sales, not because they have to, because your personalized outreach has made them a partner in your company’s growth.
• Provide a window on your company’s culture. To the consumer, every brand is a nameless, faceless corporation by default.  The more personalized and transparent a company becomes, the more a casual customer comes to think of that company as being familiar, rather than generic.  Find the best internal observers of what makes your company tick, and empower those employees to post descriptive, informative or witty updates about your day-to-day operations on Twitter and Facebook.  Catching a daily glimpse of life in your office helps your customers feel like they’re in the cubicles and manufacturing lines with you — and it gives them another reason to care about your success.

How else can you innovate with the same tools everyone else is using?

By using them to demonstrate your commitment to your customers, you’ll really give your audience something to talk about.

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.