Everytime you show up, you’re marketing yourself
-Scott Stratten
This is precisely what David Meerman Scott
explains in Chapter Four of his book, The New Rules of Marketing & PR; Social Media and Your Target Audience. When
you first hear such a title your mind immediately thinks that the chapter is
going to focus on HOW to reach your target audience or even how to FIND your
target audience. On the contrary, the chapter focuses more on how and where
companies should be engaging with its target audience online. First, Scott makes
it a point to specify the difference between social media and social
networking,
THE WEB = A CITY,
SOCIAL MEDIA = A COCKTAIL PARTY
For the few who find it difficult to understand “online
life”, it may be eye-opening to think of the web as a city and social media as a
cocktail party. For instance:
-
Corporate sites are the storefronts on
Main Street
-
Craigslist is the bulletin board at
the entrance of a corner store
-
eBay, a garage sale
-
Amazon, a superstore
-
Mainstream media sites like New York Times are the newspapers of the
city
-
Social media and the way people
interact on blogs, forums, and social network are the bars, private clubs, and
cocktail parties of the city
If you follow this analogy then you would agree
that, “The
popular people on the cocktail circuit make friends. People like to do business
with people they like. And they are eager to introduce their friends to each
other. The same trends hold true in social media” (Scott, pg. 55).
WHAT ARE THEY
SAYING ABOUT YOU? AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING ABOUT IT?
The rest of this chapter on Social Media and Your Target Audience focuses heavily on the
importance of being aware of what people are saying about your business via
these social media sites and how your business should react or interact in response. Ignoring what
your customers are saying on these platforms is ‘hazardous to your brand’.
Sony BMG, for example found this out the hard way
when the company reacted not only slowly but via the wrong mediums in response
to backlash the company received in surrounding new software used on music CDs.
Mark Russinovich blogged about it and very quickly after several consumers
commented on his post with things like, “I SAY BOYCOTT THE BASTARDS” (Jack3617). Five days after Mark’s blog post Sony BMG’s
global digital business president Thomas Hesse went on NPR’s Morning Edition to defend the company.
According to Scott, “The choice of radio as a forum to react to a storm of
protest on the web was a poor one.” Sony later released a statement offering an
exchange program, but it was too late to stop the law suits. Texas Attorney
General Greg Abbott sued Sony BMG under the state’s 2005 spyware law; and more
law suits followed soon after.
As a marketer it is crucial to be an active
participant in the communities that your markets are a part of. It isn’t enough
to simply post only when you have a sale or promotion or to comment only about
your products or services. Marketers will find it beneficial to monitor what’s
being said (Hello Google Alerts!) and when and if a company becomes the center
of a heated discussion a representative needs to jump in with a response.
The internet is like a massive focus group…
- David Meerman Scott
Is Your Social Media Strategy Relevant to Your
Target Audience? Click Here
to find out.
Damaris,
ReplyDeleteI like your insights on the need for companies and organizations to engage their key audiences by being a part of the conversations that are happening on social media. Scott indicates that social media is like a cocktail party and that the popular people on the cocktail party circuit make friends "People like to do business with people they like" (Scott, 2013, pg. 56). I find the analogy fitting. Developing friendships by engaging in two -way conversations through social media is a key for those that have succeeded in their social media strategies. Overt selling tactics do not work and turn off potential consumers. however, being an engaging conversationalist on social media allows there to be interesting dialogue that can increase brand effectiveness.
Later in chapter 4, Scott shares that social media is the place where people congregate to discuss things that are important to them. Therefore, it's the marketer's role to monitor conversations and participate as appropriate (Scott, 2013, pg. 75). Have you found it challenging to show the value of social media from an ROI standpoint to CEO's or seen that played out? I have found sometimes its a challenge to indicate a direct correlation on monitoring conversations when the desire is for measurability based on sales or direct numbers. Great post!
References:
Scott, D. (2013). The new rules of marketing & pr. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Hi Isaac and thanks for kicking off the discussion on my blog post this week. You hit the nail-on-the-head when you said, "developing friendships by engaging in two-way conversations" is key. Briana and I were speaking last week on her forum post about company's building a sort-of personal profile for themselves to appeal to their consumers more and aid in this friendship and relationship building. For instance, I brought up the example to her that the drugstore beauty brand Physicians Formula usually posts pictures to its Instagram account on the weekends that do not have a direct tie to the brand or its products but that just add a personal persona to its social media platform. Two weeks ago they simply uploaded a picture of someone holding lemonade with the caption that said, "Strawberry Lemonade! #saturday" and that was it. Today the picture has 424 likes.
DeleteHey Isaac and Damaris,
DeleteI wanted to jump in on Isaac's comment: Have you found it challenging to show the value of social media from an ROI standpoint to CEO's or seen that played out? You hit the nail on the head for what I encountered/am still challenged with in my current position.
Once again, I manage an internal social network. Trying to showcase importance to my executive board was certainly a challenge, because in my culture shocked organization, saying 'people are socializing' doesn't simply cut it. However, a lot of internal social tools are now allowing you to report on social activity, including most viewed content, largest group, most commented posts, etc. We also integrated a flagging system for key words [both for security purposes and reporting capabilities] to highlight the most talked about content. That way, we could address internal needs, analyze the content that has the most employee appeal as well as areas for improvement.
Once presented to our executive board, the value of internal social networking made sense. In conjunction, we applied these theories to our internal learning initiatives, giving users a place to interact around courses, instruct-led training programs, etc. to aide in the learning process once the course is over. We have seen a great improvement in knowledge transfer, as well as satisfaction from those who allow us to utilize such beneficial tools internally.
Do you think security and content management plays a large role in why some companies hold back from implementing social tools or because they simply don't see the value?
Hey Brianna,
DeleteWhen I worked as an account executive in beauty pr on the Physicians Formula account I was in charge of our monthly viral report that we would send the client. This report was separated into sections. I woukd track Twitter comments and @mentions for the month and to show the value of that I would add up each persons followers and total that as the total twitter impressions for the month. I woukd do the same for Facebook and YouTube as well using the personsbsubscriber number or page like number as a gauge for impressions. Now this was back in 2011 so im sure there are better ways to accurately calculate things like this but the report that I provided to the team satisfied their need for ROI.
Hey everyone,
DeleteGreat conversation so far! I’d like to back up and take a stab at Isaac’s question about proving ROI or the importance of social media to CEOs and other high level directors. As with almost every company, the end goal is making sales. I feel that many higher-ups don’t yet understand how social media aids in purchase decisions. I work in the insurance industry (fun!) which is way different than, say, consumer packaged goods. So no, it’s unlikely a tweet or post will result directly in an insurance sale. But those forms of interaction can become the foundation of a relationship that will later turn into a sale. For now, showing impressions and reach seem to be the best measures for success. The only more definitive way would be to survey every sale that’s made and ask if social media had any hand in it.
Now to address Brianna’s question about whether security and content management plays a large role in why some companies do not use social well – I would have to agree, yes. In my job, the insurance industry is so regulated we cannot publish content without review from our Law team. This is quite the process which hinders our ability to push out content in a timely manner. We lack the resources to create effective social platforms. This is an unfortunate scenario, and I feel many companies fall into the same boat.
Based on our readings, we’ve seen some case study successes where CEOs understand the importance of communicating strategically, especially through social. But how do we convince or show other CEOs the importance of social media? I feel that so many companies are finance and sales driven that CEOs don’t pay too much attention to happenings outside these functions. Erik Qualman (2012) mentions that the “ROI of social media is that your business will still exist in 5 years.” I fully agree with this statement, but how can this be proved or demonstrated to CEOs?
Reference:
Qualman, E. (2012, November 7). Social media video 2013 [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUCfFcchw1w&feature=youtu.be
Hi Lindsey,
DeleteExcellent probing question with Erik Qualman's (2012) statement of “ROI of social media is that your business will still exist in 5 years.” With statistics showing shifting of demographic users for Facebook, social media sites as a whole are still being utilized in part, by a large demographic of millennials, Those millennials are the next generation of individuals making the buying and purchasing decisions for organization when the baby boomers retire.
That fact alone should sit heavy with CEO's, whereas changing strategy and tactics to create a strong band representation on social media is something that will always exist. The web creates a social repository of content, including recommendations, past campaigns, etc.
My organization has had to face this harsh reality. We merged two companies together in 2003, each having their own identity and products. They were known for their camera product line, not for their office printing equipment. 11 years later, when peers ask me where I work, they do not recognize my company until I say they were two separate companies that sold cameras; meanwhile, we haven't sold cameras since the merger! Clearly, there is a large brand misconception issue within my organization, and we aren't focusing on establishing ourselves with the millennial generation.
I think instances like this can be avoided or fixed with research gathering methods, including social networks. If a company can understand how the millennial generation views them, how can they tailor social media content to continue to appeal to them? This should be a key highlight for CEO's and any marketing strategy.
Reference:
Qualman, E. (2012, November 7). Social media video 2013 [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watchv=QUCfFcchw1w&feature=youtu.be
I definitely agree about security being a cause for hesitation with some companies. The company that I work for now is a closeout store whose biggest competitors are stores like TJ Maxx and Marshalls. While TJ Maxx has almost 65,000 followers on Instagram and has recently launched its e-commerce website my company on the other hand is flying under the radar. My company has no social media presence nor does our website allow for people to make purchases directly from it. In the world of "close-outs" (which is basically buying the left-overs goods from a vendor at discounted prices). For us if we see that TJ Maxx is selling a Betsey Johnson watch for $20 then we can gauge how much Betsey Johnson sold it to them for. If that price is lower than ours then that raises the issue with the person that our buyer purchased the same watch from and why we didn't get the same deal or better. So if we can do this on our end imagine if my company did have this social media presence or e-commerce presence it would be a mess!
DeleteHey Brianna – the points you bring up about appealing to the millennial generation rings true at my company too. Based on trends and research, we’ve realized that by 2020, 50% of the US workforce will be millennials (Meister, 2012). This is changing the way we communicate both internally and externally. While I’ll be the first to admit that my company is slow to adopt social media, we did recently undergo internal enhancements to our sharing tools and intranet that allow us to connect easily through blogs and articles about company happenings (basically, it’s Facebook for business!). It’s been great having an open forum internally, and hopefully we’ll have better external programs soon. Appealing to the younger generation is so important for a company in both recruiting efforts and in prospective customer reach outs.
DeleteReference:
Meister, J. (2012, October 5). Three reasons you need to adopt a millennial mindset regardless of your age. Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeannemeister/2012/10/05/millennialmindse/
Lindsey,
DeleteYou are a girl after my own heart! LOL Jeanne Meister and the book, the 20/20 Workplace have served as a foundation for mostly all of my case studies and business plans. I was fortunate enough to attend a conference with her last Spring at Georgetown in Washington, DC [the Social Bootcamp] and cannot express how valuable that book and the theories in it have been. It is so important for those to understand, especially in marketing, where the next phase of buying power is being generated from. Without that understanding, a lot of companies could be in for a rude awakening, including my organization. This culture change needs to be adapted, even if it is slowly, in order to keep up with the next competitor.
Hi Damaris –
ReplyDeleteI think Scott’s analogy of social media as a cocktail party is great. There are too many marketers or companies that use the platform as a way to push their products, or worse, they don’t use it at all! In reality, it’s a forum for interaction and, well, socializing (duh!).
As you mentioned, it’s beneficial for marketers to monitor what is being said out on social media, whether it’s about their products or just general trends. If companies are using social media properly and are having those conversations with consumers, they need to create a personality and can’t act like a “corporatron” (think about the cocktail party analogy – wouldn’t it be more fun to socialize with a human being than a robot?). When posts and tweets are relevant people are more likely to interact. Stealing from the example you provided regarding the Physicans Formula Instagram account – by posting a simple picture of a refreshing drink and using the hashtag #Saturday, people were able to relate. It had nothing to do with the company’s products; it was a demonstration of brand personality. You may also see companies post things like: “What Olympic sport are you most excited for?” This is a topical question and simply a conversation starter, but is an important stepping stone in building a relationship with the consumer.
Listening, socializing and providing relevant content are all key in using social media well. In your experience as a consumer, have you ever come across a company that creates an engaging social media personality that keeps you interested? Maybe it’s not even a company that sells anything you’re necessarily interested in, but the content it posts is engaging. If a company is able to engage consumers that wouldn’t even necessarily be its customers then it is using social well, and is certainly “Mr. Popular” at the cocktail party.
Great post!
Lindsey
Damaris,
ReplyDeleteGiven today's advancement in social reporting showcasing ROI, how could you improve on your measurements from 2011? Was all of your tracking done manually?
I think be able to understand past reporting and flaws in the systems can help us identify ways in which to report ROI differently today, especially with increasing social platforms and where content is best being received. For instance, I would think the beauty industry would benefit greatly from Instagram, showing visually the impact of their product. How could you incorporate Instagram measurements into a stronger ROI report?
Another great point you brought up is YouTube. There have been many debates around the fact that companies are purchasing 'likes' on Facebook and YouTube. This Social Media Today article: http://socialmediatoday.com/adhutchinson/2094116/inevitable-bite-buying-followers-and-likes highlights reasons why this would benefit you, but I would certainly say there are many flaws to this system. As a consumer myself, I am not sure I would trust a company that relies on buying or tricking their buying audience into thinking that their service or product is popular?
What is your take on this new approach to social media popularity and is it effective?
Ok Brianna, this is my third attempt at responding to this post so let's hope it actually goes through this time lol. You raised some great questions so here it goes.
Delete1. I did do all of my tracking manually and it was very time consuming and it's not one of those things that can be divided up amongst several people because that would just confuse things and could inflate the impression numbers or understate the impression numbers. Improving on the measurements would depend on how much money the client would be willing to invest. Although social media has come a long way since my days in public relations the fact still remains, "neither Facebook, nor Twitter, nor any other social network for that matter provides you with the hard metrics you need to establish ROI for your social media marketing" (Lerner, 2014). Although they provide analytics within their own platforms, these analytics can't tell you how many people came to your website and made a purchase as a result. This article (http://www.business2community.com/social-media/social-media-marketing-generating-leads-measuring-roi-0771186) talks about a website (Oktopost.com) that will post to your social media platforms for you and is able to give you the analytics most companies are looking for. But of course, this doesn't come free. As a small business owner I would benefit from a site like this because it offers a package for free for up to 5 social media profiles. However, for those companies that have upwards of 20 social media pages the monthly subscription charge rises from $50 to $250/month.
As the owner of two online websites (http://the-style-closet.net & http://london-rock.com) I know first hand the game changer that social media is. For instance, last summer I gifted a dress to a fashion blogger in my area. This blogger took a picture wearing the dress and posted it on her blog and social networking platforms like Instagram and Facebook. Shortly after, the dress was sold out. I have seen first hand the difference that content production has on the amount of likes and new followers my sites platforms receive. So for me it's not so much about a ROI, its about producing content to build a following and I may not have what they are looking for today, but someday I will.
2. Instagram has recently started "Promotions". Facebook and Twitter have been doing this for a while where you can post something and pay for Facebook to promote it for you and it tracks the amount of clicks that your promotion receives. I was scrolling through my Instagram timeline a few days ago and I said to myself, "What is this? I'm not following this person" and then I noticed a little word under it that said "promotion". I know companies will be happy about this new addition because not only can they broaden their reach but they can track the success of the posts that they choose.
3. You raise a good point about trusting a company that relies on tricking their buying audience but at the end of the day half of what you see is done through some form of "trickery", if you will. For example, part of the craze around Youtube beauty bloggers is that these girls seem real, they seem honest and unbiased but the truth is, they aren't unbiased because at the end of the day they have bills to pay just like everyone else. A client of mine paid a very popular Youtube beauty blogger almost $5,000 to do a video for us. They paid another $1,400. The bloggers will say oh I went to CVS and picked this up when in actually the PR representative mailed it to them for free.
**My first response was too long, google wouldn’t let me post the whole thing together so here is the rest of it**
DeleteSimilar to this is the notion of product placements, which is a topic of debate in the industry about how much a product placement should cost and whether it is really effective (Lattimore, Baskin, Heiman, Toth, 2012). Rossiter and Bellman (2005) go as far as saying they are "'ethically contemptible' because there is no guarantee the audience will understand an attempt is being made to persuade them. Even if the audience does understand, they argue it is unethical because there is an intention to deceive on the part of the marketer" (Percy 2008).
Have you come across any of these videos? Do you think you can tell the difference from when a blogger is producing an unbiased video versus one they received payment for?
Resources
Oktopost.com
Percy, L. (2008). Strategic integrated marketing communications. (1st ed.). Burlington: Elsevier Inc.
Lattimore, D., Basking, O., Heiman, S., & Toth, E. (2012). Public relations: the profession and the practive. (4th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Lerner, M. (2014, February 7). Social media marketing: generating leads and measuring roi. Retrieved from http://www.business2community.com/social-media/social-media-marketing-generating-leads-measuring-roi-0771186
Hi Damaris,
ReplyDeleteI really like how Scott helps us better understand what social media is all about compared to the overall Internet. Towards the end of your post you brought up a very good point which is on going support of social media. Social media is not static and sometimes companies are too quick at jumping at it without proper planning so they find themselves with many unmanaged accounts. As you stated if a company becomes the center of a heated discussion a representative needs to jump in with a response.
When you used to monitor mentions online where there any decisions made as a result? Did you identify any posts that were causing negative reviews that needed to be updated? Also, were you also involved in the analysis of the overall monthly or week traffic information to see if the social media tools were reaching the correct target?
I enjoyed reading your blog. I loved the purple and the bright colors. You did a great job!
Warm Regards,
Ana
Hey Ana,
DeleteThanks so much for joining the conversation on my blog this week. As a member of the public relations team it was our job to provide the client with the monthly clips and impressions that helped garner for the month. What the company representatives did with that information I have no idea. However, during my tenure there my team did help the company design and roll-out a "micro-site". This site was separate from the company's main website and served as a home for contests, forums, and basically an online community for the brand. The site was rolled out with a makeup tutorial contest. To prepare we sent out free makeup kits to our list of beauty bloggers and Youtube vloggers (video-bloggers) accompanied with information about the website and the contest. We contacted a vlogger that we had a good relationship and asked her to upload the first video to give others an idea of what we were looking for. And when you think about it, who wants to be the first person to upload a video to a contest? After this initial launch the company representatives were looking or things like how many entrants did we receive to the contest, how many profiles were created on the site, how many people were submitting questions to the forum etc.
In regards to negative reviews, I wouldn't say so much but we did often receive questions and comments about product availability, issues with people trying to redeem coupons, and questions about ingredients. Questions like those we would consult with our company contacts first before offering a response to the consumer. Questions about ingredients often needed to be answered by someone in R&D and the team worked quickly on getting that information back to us so that the customer wasn't left hanging waiting for a response.
Hi Damaris,
ReplyDeleteGreat post, and lots of great conversation stemming from it! I like the style of your blog, and what a great logo.
I found this article from Nathan Mendenhall about the top 10 reasons a company needs to improve their social media, with some interesting stats about response time and perceptions:
-57% of customers think that a brand’s customer service response time should be the same on the weekdays and weekends.
-32% of customers said that they expect a response from a brand within 30 minutes.
-53% of people who engage with a brand on Twitter expect a response in 1 hour or less.
-72% of customers said that they expect a response from a brand within an hour if they have a question or complaint.
-38% of people reported having negative sentiments towards a brand who didn’t give them a timely response to their customer service issue on social media.
-62% of brands are replying to questions and comments on social media in 2013 opposed to 30% in 2012.
I like the last stat the most, showing how many more brands are seeing the value in communicating directly with the consumer they are looking for engagement. The percentage doubled in one year!
What do you think about the response time stats? 72% expecting a response within an hour. Have you ever had this expectation as a consumer?
Here's the full article: http://socialmediatoday.com/nate-mendenhall/2161881/10-reasons-why-you-need-improve-your-social-media-customer-service.
Hi Sabrina,
DeleteThanks for sharing all these stats – they’re really interesting! But I agree with your questioning that 72% of people expect a response to a question or complaint within an hour. That seems really high to me. I personally don’t really use social media to interact with companies (I’m more an observer), so I don’t have personal experience with this. But if I were to leave a question or complaint I would be happy with a response within a day or two. I definitely would be within that group of people who has negative sentiments toward a brand if no contact is made in a timely manner. Although “timely manner” to me may be a bit longer than it is for others.
I agree it’s really impressive that the number of brands responding to comments on social media has doubled in the past year. But it’s necessary! Especially when you look at all the other statistics where consumers expect such fast response times.
Think 80% of companies will be responding to social media comments after this year? If the trend continues, who knows!
Hi Lindsey,
DeleteI agree, 72% seems high. I wonder what industries field the most urgent consumer questions and complaints through social media. What do you think they are? I'm sure travel and service industries must have high LOS expectations.
I admit, when there is a "chat now" option on a site, I will do that before calling or emailing. I've used it with Apple to buy a computer, with Comcast for internet issues, and with Home Depot to buy lights. It was incredibly easy, and definitely resulted in positive experiences. It allowed for me to get answers immediately, and continue to ask questions if needed.
I think the latest development of Kindle Fire's live human tech support is a new advancement in how companies can interact with consumers going forward (Kelly, 2013). The technology not only allows you to speak to a live person on the screen, but the rep can see, control, and draw on your tablet to help guide you. This concept truly provides a personalized, authentic experience. Do you think this is something that other companies will adopt?
References:
Kelly, H. (2013, September 25). Kindle's live, human, screen-controlling tech support. CNN. Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/25/tech/mobile/kindle-customer-service/.
Hey Ladies,
DeleteI definitely agree that 72% of customers expecting a response from a company within one hour is very high. I wonder if people have come to this high expectation as a result of having had it happen to them before. I guess for me I'm more realistic because not only am I a consumer but I have a marketing and pr background so I know that depending on what questions and concerns the consumer has other departments may need to be consulted in order to give the consumer an accurate answer. This would definitely take more than an hour. This is especially true because most companies social media platforms are maintained by their public relations team and a lot of companies hire an outside pr agency instead of having an in-house department. I am partial to thinking that a companies customer service should be the same on the weekends as it is on the weekdays. I always get frustrated when I try to call for customer service on the weekend and the office is closed. This doesn't make sense to me considering a large portion of the working force works Monday through Friday, tying them up which would hinder them from having time to make some customer service calls they need to. What do you guys think? Has this happened to you as well?
Hey Sabrina and Damaris,
DeleteI know some companies have 24/7 customer service, so maybe that’s why some people expect so much. I’ve used “click-to-chat” options from companies before that are great – I had an HP printer that broke while still under warranty, so I contacted customer service through chat and they sent a gift card worth the price of the printer so I could buy a new one. I was pretty happy with that! That’s as close as I’ve gotten to complaining through social media – I haven’t actually used a company’s social media platform to complain publicly. I think Kindle’s live human tech support is certainly an innovative idea, but personally I don’t like connecting face-to-face with someone. It may not be my cup of tea but I’m sure it works for others, and other companies are likely to adopt. But I do agree with you Damaris – companies should have customer service open on the weekends as well. It’s so difficult to handle issues when you work an 8-5 yourself!
Damaris, thanks for offering a thorough review of Scott’s chapter of social media and targeted audiences. Scott makes a really important point about the need to monitor and react or interact with target and consumer social media platforms (Scott, 2013). Sony BMG is a great example of what not to do. In researching for this week’s discussion I found another interesting example. A fan of Domino’s Pizza posted a photo of her pizza with the quote “Best Pizza Ever… Keep up the good work guys." Domino’s responded about 8 hours later with what appeared to be an automated message saying “Sorry about that! Please share some additional information with us” along with details for how to share a complaint. This is an example of a clear misuse of social media! An article on PR News Online said, “Indications were that it was an automated response—the kind of thing that’s exactly what communicators should not do on social media” (Silber, 2013, para. 3). Social media is a great tool for monitoring, interacting and communicating with consumers. But, if used inappropriately, as was the case for this Domino’s post, it can cause more harm than good. “Social is a revolutionary tool that allows brands to engage with their audiences—and social events that go either really well or really badly usually get amplified far beyond the gravity of the actual event” (Silber, 2013, para. 5). Clearly there will always be an element of human error and therefore the chance for a mistake to slip through the cracks. One way to minimize damage is to build credibility among your audiences before the inevitable mistakes occur. As we learned from Scott (2013), “if you actively participate in the online communities that you customers frequent, you will earn their sympathy and patience when things go wrong” (p. 67).
ReplyDeleteReferences
Scott, D. (2013). The new rules of marketing & PR. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Silber, T. (2013, August 13). Domino’s Facebook failure: You love our pizza? We’re sorry! PR News. Retrieved from http://www.prnewsonline.com/water-cooler/2013/08/13/you-love-our-pizza-were-sorry/
Hey Bobbi Sue,
DeleteVery well said and I couldn't agree more. Marketers need to see social media as more than a platform to 'push' out information about its products and services. Until they see social media as a means for real two-way communication with its public's failures like that of Dominos will continue to occur. I think companies need to do away with automated responses all together. It's like calling into a customer service number and the automated person comes on claiming to be able to handle your problem. As soon as I hear it I press zero several times so I can be directed to a "real" person. This is what consumers want when they reach out to a company through social media; they want to feel like they are speaking to a real person.