Can your brand take criticism? Social media will test your mettle.

Social media is wonderful for brands because you can actually engage in real conversations with real people. But, social media is awful because you can actually engage in real conversations with real people.

Blogs, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr - there are people out there typing away about what they think about you (er.. your brand) and a lot of it is negative. Let's face it. It's more fun to say something negative than positive and we know that anonymity enables even more belligerent, obnoxious and contemptuous rhetoric about anything and everything under the sun.

My advice to marketers: take it with a grain of salt. For generations brands have been announcing their messages from the ivory tower of passive mass media. Now, we are hearing the voices echo back. But keep in mind that what you're hearing is your most VOCAL consumer as well as a WELL CONNECTED consumer (he's got his Facebook, Twitter and mobile mail all synced and can let 500 people know what he thinks in just 50 clicks of his double-jointed thumbs). The point is, a few people hitting the right areas of social-media networks can make their voice heard as if they are a few thousand. But this does not mean they are your key constituent. Nor does it mean that their opinion defines the overall general attitude of your average customer.

Which brings me to this: Brands in this day and age are NOT thick-skinned. Any small amount of criticism seems to make brand managers duck and run for cover. But before you fold up your tent and skidaddle, you should take a moment and evaluate what you're hearing. Consider the source. Try to get beyond the deafening shrill of the brash and outspoken. See if there is more to be heard. Then take the necessary action (that is, if any is required).




Motrin (Johnson and Johnson) recently got a black eye from running what they thought was a tongue-in-cheek commercial about mom's carrying their babies and the back pain that ensues. I didn't get a chance to see the spot because it was pulled immediately and Motrin apologized on their website with an open letter. Some key mommy-bloggers set the blogosphere ablaze with their less-than-favorable opinion of the spot and Motrin freaked. Other people were not so offended. Some even saw the light-spirited humor.

So, it's interesting to think that when you do all the research, the creative implementation, the media buying and you look at all that investment being spent on a brand message, is it really THAT easy to be bullied into withdrawal by a few vocal netizens? Apparently so.

Jack Neff of Advertising Age writes an article on the whole affair.

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