Facebook Studios

Anyone who has dealt with Facebook for their business or clients businesses knows that when Facebook decides to change the way that something is done within their platform, it can send ripples, if not wakes, through your world for quite some time. Updating landing pages, converting from FBML tabs to “apps”, and all of that can eat up a fair amount of time and effort that if not built into a client contract can cost you money.

At face value, it looks like Facebook has started to take a step toward making these transitions a little easier. Last week, Facebook Studios went live. It is billed as a community where agency creative can “share ideas, comment on campaigns, and learn what it takes to create a successful page for a brand.” I certainly hope it revolves around the third point the most, and does not become a breeding ground for back-slapping and ‘atta-boys’ and truly allows and fosters an environment that ideas can be shared and both successes and failures can be analyzed and learned from. This concern stems from the site content centers around a spotlighted campaign, six campaigns in a gallery, and a “most popular” section. All of this is then followed by the “learning lab” at the bottom.

Here’s to learning….

Tod O'Brien

Director of Creative Services

One Eyed Dog Productions

www.oneeyeddog.com/

Brand Identity Theft

Last week's subject was dedicated to the issue of Brand Reputation and how it can quickly and easily become a big problem if someone goes online a starts dismantling your brand via new media capabilities such as blogs, message boards, social networking sites, etc.

This same form of new media can also cause anyone with a computer and a connection to wreak havoc on your brand by committing brand identity theft.

This can occur when someone sets up a Facebook, Twitter, or other online account and names it something that could easily be taken as an official brand communication channel.

This happened to BP during the Gulf crisis spurred by the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig disaster. @BPGlobalPR on twitter was a fictitious BP Public Relations channel set up by an individual who broadcast messages that made BP appear both foolish and incompetent. This is very dangerous for a brand when these imposters are taken as the real thing and actually start believing that parody or malicious messaging is being send by the company when it really is not.

This situation can also affect personal brands as well. When Rahm Emanuel decided to return to Chicago and run for mayor, he was well aware of how well new media assisted his friend in attaining the White House just a few years earlier. He set up @RhamEmanuel on Twitter, which makes sense, and started keeping his followers, 16,746 of them, informed of his mayoral bid. The problem came to be when an anonymous twitter user set up @mayorEmanuel and started rather frequent postings laced with rather unusual language for someone running for office. Well, it was quickly figured out that @mayorEmanuel was an impostor, but again, if someone does not know this and assumes that this is him, it could have some adverse effects on his personal brand as he ran for mayor. Oh, and the bogus account has 49,458 followers reaching over twice as many people as the real Rahm Emanuel on Twitter and as a result of the content of the feed, gained as much if not more media attention.

Emanuel handled the situation well. In touching on one of last week’s points, do not overreact with overwhelming force. He could have easily dumped a few lawyers on the issue, made threats to sue, and things like that. But he didn’t. He offered $5000 to the charity of choice of the person doing it if they made themselves known. It worked and once Dan Sinker admitted to being the man behind it all, he got his 15 minutes of fame, Emanuel had de-fused the situation and the whole thing was a non-issue anymore.

Identity theft can happen to brands as well as individuals. This is another good reason to keep up with and engage with online communities. Someone may be talking for the brand and not in a very flattering way.


Tod O'Brien
Director of Creative Services
One Eyed Dog Productions
www.oneeyeddog.com


P.S.: Don't forget....Youth Marketing Today is an online community for advertising, marketing and brand management professionals; and young people who take an active interest in how they interact and communicate with brands and how those brands interact and communicate with them.

Brand Reputation Warfare

Companies and their brands are now fighting a new, and at times, elusive small-scale antagonists more and more frequently. The age of social media, while most often looked to as a brand-building tool, has also become the weapon of choice when it comes to attacking brands and their associated reputations by dissatisfied customers, disgruntled employees, or anyone else.

Virtually anyone with a personal computer, a web connection, and an axe to grind can become a major problem for a brand and it can happen seemingly over night. Brand reputation is difficult enough without the constant threat of brush fires of negative public relations issues popping up and spreading quickly. Management still has options in dealing with these situations while not tarnishing the brand any further and perhaps with the chance to actually build the brand even more as a result.

Below are few guidelines for dealing with these issues when they do occur:

Be calm and think first. Even if you are managing a large and well-funded brand, do not retaliate with an overwhelming show of force. Be professional, factual, and listen. Some may initially feel that a barrage of press releases, blogging, and social media responses would immediately be in order to extinguish and suppress the negative chatter online and elsewhere. This may not always be the case, and rarely is in the new socially dominated digital universe. A large brand in the midst of a knee-jerk response that is over-done can backfire and garner sympathy public opinion votes for the 'little guy' and only further their cause and not the brands cause.

Don't get bogged down in red tape. The response should be swift and relevant. If a mid-level P.R. professional in the organization drafts responses that are deemed reasonable and effective, go with it. Don't wait for upper management to go over everything and approve it letter for letter. This goes to the next point, by the way…

Empower members of your organization. This goes for almost any aspect of the organization, but it is especially true when dealing with these situations. People tend to believe other 'real' people who work at a company, and not a person who is lofting around in the higher ranks of an organization. These are often considered the very people who drove the brand to do what has them upset in the first place. When everyone knows and shares the vision and values of the organization, the story is natural and realistic. It is also more believable.

New media perpetuated the issues, use new media to help address the issues. New media is often considered a threat for the very reasons that we are discussing here. Some of this stems from most organizations not knowing what to do. Many have not laid out a contingency plan in the event that this happens, and most do not have the right resources in place to operate a new media campaign. Many companies do not know how to fight fire with fire because they have never used a match before. Be prepared, even if you were never a Boy Scout.

Know who your allies are. Know who really knows what your brand and organization is all about. Utilize them as needed if your brand takes a reputation beating. These are force multipliers that are taken much more seriously that a CEO when a brand needs defending. These people are more credible and believable to the public at large as an outside or third party reference involving the issue at hand. Influencers cannot only help build your brand; they can help maintain it in a crisis situation.

Again, be prepared. Part of preparedness in situations like these is first of all, being a good corporate citizen, and when this is acknowledged, keep it in your pocket to re-iterate when your brand is under attack. Being able to point to these times of brand responsibility can go a long way especially when they are current and relevant to the issue at hand.

New media is a great new force in the marketing world. It, like many powerful forces, can be a double-edged sword. Always keep your sharp to fight back when someone starts taking pot-shots at you from a distance.

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As always, thank you for joining us for this discussion.

Tod O'Brien
Director of Creative Services
One Eyed Dog Productions
www.oneeyeddog.com