Social Media’s Duel Edged Sword:

The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

Presented to the Cause Marketing Forum on February 15, 2011

About Geoff

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Why a Duel Edged Sword?

• Affiliating with causes has never been easier

• $• Citizens can not only

participate, but they can provide feedback

• Requires a deeper level of authenticity in CSR

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Examples: The Good (AMEX)

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AMEX: Post Mortem

• Good: Integrated media relations, influencers online to drive traffic

• Good: Strong use of Facebook application. Used Twitter, etc. to drive to application.

• Good: Call to action: Like = dollars • Good: Call to action: Sign up, spend, get a discount• Good: Used Wall to share small business stories,

encourage engagement.• Bad: Moment in time, has not sustained.• Bad: Not enough traffic driving back to AMEX site.

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Examples: The Bad (Groupon)

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Groupon: Post Mortem• Bad: Calls to action to help charities were not

obvious. • Bad: Web site for people to participate and

donate was never highlighted on the ads!!!• Bad: Blogosphere blew up, Groupon did not

address concerns, instead justified on their blog• Bad: Groupon did not engage bloggers directly,

disregarded feedback• Bad: Groupon didn’t message effectively on

social channels

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Examples: The Ugly (Komen/KFC)

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KFC/Komen: Post Mortem

• Bad: Komen web site contradicted the campaign with its research

• Bad: No social media component, but… social media ended up being a key medium.

• Good: Blogosphere blew up, KFC engaged directly

• Bad: Komen ignored it

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Dos and Don’ts from the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

• Do: Use Facebook, Twitter as direct channels to enage, drive traffic to cause marketing site.

• Do: Expect online engagement. Use social media tools to empower people to participate in the cause activity.

• Do: Have a socially enabled web site that explains the action (authenticity), even if SM has small role in promo. Consumers do not distinguish.

• Don’t: Ignore bloggers and criticism. Address it, lest it escalate. Plus necessary for search.

• Don’t: Let Facebook own your traffic.

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The Current State of Authenticity

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Infusing Authenticity to Reflect Culture

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Authenticity Example: Haagen-Dazs

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Dos and Don’ts from Make a Bee

• Do: Have your own site to drive traffic to from Twitter, Facebook, traditional comms

• Do: Use SM to empower people to participate as individuals: Make and send a bee

• Do: Explain your company’s interest in the cause

• Don’t: Forget to integrate Twitter and Facebook into your site, so outbound sharing can happen

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The Importance of Tying Back to Culture

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Ripples of Kindness

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Dos and Don’ts from Ripples of Kindness

• Do: Use influencers to seed the campaign ideas (400 people, $100)

• Do: Give people a way to sound off, participate• Do: Explain your purpose (Could have tied better

to the mission)• Do: Integrate Facebook and Twitter outbound

promo, even if you are Yahoo!• Don’t: Forget to integrate traditional comms! It

works better if you do.

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Pepsi Refresh: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

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The Good

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The Bad

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The Ugly

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Do’s and Don’ts from Pepsi Refresh• Do: Empower people to act on behalf of the cause on

your own site• Do: Integrate traditional PR and marketing into online

influencer programs• Do: Use Facebook and Twitter as primary

inbound/outbound channels• Do: Address criticism head on • Do: Acknowledge wrongs, change and evolve• Don’t: Over focus on the company promo. • Don’t: Fail to clearly state the cause. In this case, no

specific causes, so theory of change?

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Summary Points• Civic media is the great

opportunity to embrace customer voices

• It can also turn on us• To avoid worst case

scenarios, cause marketing campaigns need better engineering

• Authenticity mapping to corp. culture, ethos

• Use the tools to connect dots for stakeholders

• Have your own site, use Facebook Twitter for In AND Outbound

• Empower stakeholders to participate, embrace and own your story

• Be prepared for the ugly, and evolve (two way dialogue)

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Questions?

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