Despite some public cynicism about social media marketing, companies have been quick to embrace the potential of this new medium. As with anything, there is a learning curve (as companies like Domino's have discovered), but an increasing number of companies are seeing plenty of opportunities in the social media marketing (SMM) universe.
When SMM Goes Wrong The Impact is Far Reaching
The Domino's case is an exciting one. For those who haven't heard, two employees of the company posted a video on YouTube that showed them doing repellant things with food before putt it into a sub. According to the Toronto Sun, the two employees have been unemployed and there is no evidence the food was served to customers. But the damage has been done.
The company should be cut a bit slack here. There is no way it can control the silly actions of a couple of employees. While some observers may be somewhat sympathetic to their plight, many have noted how Domino's - an SMM user - failing to use the SMM tools it knows so well to respond favorably and quickly to this PR disaster.
While I am not here to criticize Domino's, their case shows the challenges of using social media for PR and marketing. By using these tools but not understanding them, the company has incontestable why some social media users view companies' efforts to communicate with suspicion.
Although Domino's tried to communicate through social media, most observers felt that the company did not engage in any genuine manner with its audience. Their written video apology appeared insincere and self-serving and made a bad situation worse.
There is a clear lesson to businesses here. SMM is not a cakewalk. There are risks associated with using these tools incorrectly and with taking a superficial approach with your audience. As Domino's discovered, bad news travels fast - one small trip-up will be broadcast around the globe before you know it.
The Upside of SMM
Even though there is the chance of a backlash from people putt overmuch marketing spin into social media tools, companies are preparation huge increases in their outlay on social media marketing.
The website www.socialcomputingjournal.com posted an clause with some statistics from recent studies by leading research firms Forester and Aberdeen. The numbers paint a very rosy picture of SMM, despite the economy and despite cautionary tales like the Domino's story.
Forester surveyed 114 social media marketers at companies with 250 or more employees. They found that only 5% planned to decrease outlay on SMM. While 42% plan to continue outlay at current levels, 53% plan to increase outlay in this area - even if the recession continues for another six months.
Aberdeen polled "best-in-class" companies around the world and found that 63% plan to increase social media marketing outlay in 2009.
While these numbers don't tell us the reasons why companies plan to boost outlay, some MarketingSherpa stats cited in the clause tell us the many benefits of marketing on social media: increasing brand awareness, up search engine rankings, influencing brand reputation, and increasing website traffic. The vast majority of respondents (87-92%) felt that social media was somewhat or very effective altogether of these areas.
So, if your company has been hesitant to climb on the social media marketing bandwagon - mayhap out of fear of doing it wrong - take a lesson from the numbers shown above. Many businesses are embracement this technology and far more are succeeding with it than failing.
