Know thy social media - 25 Oct 2010

With the rise of social media, companies are slowly but surely losing more and more control over the shape of their brands. Take for instance the recent GAP case in which the company's new logo was heavily criticised in the online domain by consumers. This led to GAP reverting to its old logo. Consumers have more of a say in brand-building and they sure can make a loud noise when they're not happy - the volume grows when it's on a public platform accessible to anyone at anytime - there's no hiding from an opposing group in today's digital world.

A very similar case happened in South Africa last week with Woolworths when the company took a strategic business decision to remove some of the poor-performing religious magazines from its shelves. Some consumers took deep offence and ranted on the Woolies Facebook page calling for a boycott of all Woolworths products and stores. Within 24 hours the retailer released a statement saying it reconsidered its decision and the said magazines would remain on sale.

I'm not sure if this was a good move - being swayed by emotional reasoning rather than rational business sense. It's clear though that companies need to now always take into consideration the active consumer who's armed with social media platforms that could make or break your reputation. Companies also need to think long and hard before reacting rather than just rolling over immediately after the outcry. Management at every level needs to attend a course on handling social media negativity if they're to survive a butting of heads with the online consumer.