I have just came across our class mate Mary Wong's blog, and read an interesting blog about the benefits of social media for an organisation that she provided. Like I mentioned in my previous blog post, is social media platform such as Facebook a good marketing tool? Mary Wong's blog post has answered the question of what social media can do and the benefits of it.
However, What are the risks, threats, and issues that marketers might face when not managing their social media properly?
I mentioned eWOM (Electronic Word-of-Mouth) as one the threats that marketers should be aware of in Mary Wong's blog post. I also came across a blog talking about the threats to social media marketing, and "lack of control of the message" was one of the top 10 threats that these marketing seniors face. I thought it was equally important for us to look at the threats versus benefits, where after all we may all face these problems and frustrations. Therefore, what are some other existing threats that organisations may face with social media?
The biggest threat (in my opinion) is total loss of control. You can mediate by choosing to respond to a message but the realm of social media makes it impossible to control and hence risky for brands. Implementing a social media networking page, ie facebook can be avoided if you don't choose to enter that space, but just because you choose to refrain doesn't mean people will not create a page on your behalf, talking about their opinions and experiences.
ReplyDelete@rhondahirst Totally agree with your point. From what I see, there are many facebook pages that is not even owned by the company or the brand itself, but instead users who likes or hate created the pages for their own purposes. I think this shows how threatening social media can get, especially when your brand is attached to haters...
ReplyDeleteThe haters and the negative WoM will always exist. You've really only got two options: 1. ignore them, or 2. listen to them.
ReplyDeleteThen, the tougher question if you take option #2: Should you respond, and if so, how?
P.S. It would be great if you could link to Mary's blog in your post!
@Wags I totally agree that these haters and negative messages will always be there, like you said it is up to the marketers to either ignore or listen to them. It seems like many has responded through deleting these negative responses and has brought an even more negative image to them ( I remmber reafing aout this somewhere, and will try to recall and search more about this to share to everyone.)
ReplyDeletePS. I thiink i didlink to Mary's blog, but it doesn't show as a li unless you move the mouse towards the words. :)
@rhonahirst, I agree with you very much, and to add to that, not adopting it could mean you slowly start falling behind, even if you take the risks into consideration. It is a very fine balancing act.
ReplyDeleteGreat post Chun! eWoM is strong and quick, but fixing issues as they arise will also spread just as quickly (perhaps not with so much punch because people tend to listen to the negatives or complaints) but effectively handled, it could work really well.
Ross
fake ideas would be a problem. I see millions of fake news in Chinese twitter EVERY DAY, so this may happern to organization as well. Social media will spread both good or bad, real or fake news quite fast. How to improve the analyze the reliability or credibility of the news is a issue.
ReplyDeleteInteresting post - I think one of the things that marketers are starting to get used to is that in many ways social media levels the playing field. My one comment about a brand on Twitter for example, carries to a large extend the same weight as a comment from the brand itself...maybe more when the comment is seen as independent third party as opposed to commercially driven messages.
ReplyDeleteSocial media also offers the consumers an opportunity that has not been really possible pre social media, the opportunity to connect with other likeminded individuals that together are a force to be reckoned with. I think the Nestle case study is a perfect example of the threat of groundswell, where a campaign has the potential to completely de-rail a brand and achieve impressive results - http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/climate-change/kitkat/