This Tweet is Personal

Large businesses are not personal by nature. The larger the corporation, the harder it is to be personal. On the other hand, Mom & Pop shops are highly personal. You know the owners, who are often very kind and friendly people.

The average customer desires a personal connection with companies they shop at. This largely explains the revolt against WalMart. They are seen as a massive corporation that is only in the business of making a profit. If customers didn't care about the personal shopping experience, small towns would welcome stores like WalMart who sell products at much cheaper prices than smaller Mom & Pop stores.

Twitter is the personal connection tool that large corporations have been waiting for. They can show that they actually care. They can reach out directly to the customer. Comcast is a great example of putting personality behind a corporation.



What is stopping most companies from embracing customers and starting up a dialogue with them?

Fear.

Companies fear a backlash. They fear one poorly worded tweet being retweeted and causing an uproar. The latest example with Motrin is not reason to avoid social media, but more so a reason why you need to know your audience. Just because one company in your industry fails, doesn't mean your company will. The same applies to social media. Just because one company screws up, doesn't mean yours will.

The day that a company loses control of its brand online, is the day the company will begin to build value in the eye of the consumer.

I welcome any company that joins Twitter, as long as they use it to start conversations and not shout advertisements.

Updated: Motrin Moms and Why Listening is Important

If you haven't heard about the Motrin Moms commercial that sparked a wave of backlash against Motrin, you can watch the ad below:



This has led Twitter Moms and Dads to turn their commentary into the top trending topic on Twitter. Obviously, this is not something that Motrin wished for. Mothers were offended by the condescending tone that the ad takes towards Mothers who carry their babies, calling them 'fashionable' and an 'official Mom.' You can read more about this from the New York Times Parenting Blog.

How this could have been avoided:

Listening. It's as simple as that. If the people who created the ad had asked Twitter Moms what they thought about carrying their baby on their back, they probably would have created a commercial with a different tone. All of this could have been avoided with a simple sincere question to a group that is probably more than willing to give their opinion.

How Motrin has responded:
Motrins website is currently down and they have issued an apology.

This is what every large company fears about social media. You put your message out there and people rip it apart. This should not discourage companies from engaging in social media, but it likely will. When an agency presents a social media campaign to an executive, they will likely say "well we don't want our company to be the next Motrin, lets just play it safe."

This is not a reason to stay away from social media. It is more so a reminder that you really need to be connected with your audience and know what they are thinking. Social media allows you to directly connect with customers on a personal level. If Motrin was involved in an online community when the ad was released, they could have responded in a much quicker and sincere way. Instead they are left with an email apology. Effective social media is all about listening and caring about what your audience is saying. Motrin has an opportunity to come back with a sincere message to Twitter moms. Will they capitalize on that opportunity?



What are your thoughts?


UPDATE: Motrin.com is back up and they have posted an apology.



Am I the only person who thinks this might actually be good for Motrin? After all, they are criticizing the advertising not the product itself. To some degree this reminds me of when the new Microsoft ads with Jerry Seinfeld came out. People railed against the ads saying how they were pointless and a waste of money. In this case people are finding the advertisement offensive. In both cases they were called bad advertisements. Both advertisements have generated a lot of word of mouth.

Motrin has given a sincere apology. People will eventually forgive them and realize that it was just a poorly worded advertisement. For all the negative feedback this ad has received, it has generated a massive amount of word of mouth (at least on Twitter) which I believe will cancel out any negative feelings against Motrin.

Do you agree or disagree?

Another thought: You know how Motrin could have given the most sincere apology? A YouTube video. Just a short video apology from one of the creators of the video would have been a thousand times more effective than the statement on their website. The statement has no personality to it.