Discretion and confidentiality are words that come to mind when one thinks of substance abuse rehabilitation and treatment. That is why we were so intrigued by the Passages Addiction Treatment Centers’ recent announcement of the launch of a “Sobriety, Health and Wellness” survey utilizing only social media channels.
“We are always looking for new ways to engage with the addiction treatment community and to get feedback regarding sobriety, what’s working for people, and what isn’t,” said Pax Prentiss, CEO and co-founder of Passages, in a press release. The survey will take place over a two-week time frame. Passages’ administrative staff will be looking for feedback from those in recovery, Passages’ staff and graduates of the program and those considered “fans” of the rehabilitation brand. The ideas generated from this social media survey will be used to improve upon the rehabilitation experience. Passages asks anyone that is interested in providing feedback concerning recovery to post such comments on their Facebook page.
The use of this survey brings up the larger issue of whether social media is appropriate as a venue for anyone who works in a field where confidentiality or client/professional privilege is required. Granted, this survey is asking the public for ideas on how to improve quality of care. We would love to hear your thoughts on this issue.
This blog is devoted to when companies use social media to its benefit to boost presence and brand appeal. Conversely, we like to show when brands are using digital to its detriment to provide a teachable moment on what not to do with your brand. We do understand in that in a 24/7 viral world where everyone is using social media there is a push to post frequently. But sometimes it is best to take a pause as a social media marketing strategist and ask if your post is really pushing forward a positive message for your brand. If it’s just tweeting for the sake of it, take a rest and wait for some better inspiration to come along.
In the realm of brands posting unnecessary and cringeworthy tweets, we found an article last week on Digiday that highlighted some major social media faux pas from major brands that likely have dedicated social media teams. How and why these brands thought the following posts were funny or comical is beyond comprehension:
1) @Charmin provides an unattractive visual with the following tweet of “#thatawkwardmoment when you may have to deem the seat a biohazard. #tweetfromtheseat.”
2) @Walgreens provides an unnecessary use of social media with the following tweet of “Good Morning!” Imagine if every brand did this with “good morning,” “good evening” or “have a great day?” The simple credo of “if you don’t have anything interesting to say, don’t say anything” applies here.
3) Tums showing a picture of a tomato, basil and mozzarella dish with the following tweet of “How hard is it to make a yummy salad…” A bottle of Tums’ Freshers is displayed in the lower right hand corner with the bubble quote of “It’s so capr-easy!” No pun intended here, but this is cheesy at best.
You can see the five other examples of brands using social media in a ridiculous fashion by clicking on the Digiday article here.
Now infamous for being the first restauranteurs “fired” by Kitchen Nightmares’ star Gordon Ramsey on last Friday’s episode for being unable to work with Amy and Samy Bouzaglo, the owners of Amy’s Baking Company are currently embroiled in a social media nightmare where the owners are claiming their Facebook page has been hacked.
Last week’s episode ended with Ramsey walking away from the restaurant owners and claiming he was unable to work with the Bouzaglos because they do not listen to criticism. The owners of Amy’s Baking Company admitted to firing 100 employees and were alleged to have stolen tip money. Since then, the couple reportedly took to social media to respond to critics. Instead of replying in a calm and collected fashion, the person who posted on Amy’s Facebook page responded to critics in an increasingly bizarre and somewhat abusive fashion, callling detractors “trash”, “pathetic” and that “G-d was on their (Amy and Samy’s) side with Samy calling his wife “a jewel in the desert.”
In an interesting twist, Amy’s owners are now claiming their social media sites were hacked with the following post on Facebook: “Obviously our Facebook, YELP, Twitter and Website have been hacked. We are working with the local authorities as well as the FBI computer crimes unit to ensure this does not happen again. We did not post those horrible things. Thank You Amy &Samy.” This may be possible. Highly doubtful, but you never know. Remember that Anthony Weiner claimed his Twitter account was hacked before fessing up that he did, in fact, send pictures of his crotch to a follower on social media.
Amy’s needs to rebuild its brand by apologizing to its customers for letting this debacle deflect from the real business of serving quality food to the public. They need to thank the customers that have stuck by them and the 50,000 plus Facebook fans that like them. Then they need to get off social media and not allow themselves to be baited by those who expect to see them explode. If they can’t do this, once the foot traffic of customers that will come into the restaurant to witness the madness subsides, the restaurant will be long for this world.
Our advice would be to make the big, public mea culpa and zip it. If budget permits, bringing in a dedicated and experienced public relations person to rebuild the brand would be a good move, too. So long as they don’t fire that person.
Last week we shared with you AT&T’s adorable Mother’s Day video of some chatty kids talking about how their mothers give them the best hugs. This week, we learned about how CokeZero wanted to help those who failed to reach out and give their moms a Mother’s Day gift with a fun, social media contest.
Mother’s Day slackers were able to tweet their excuses why they missed Mother’s Day to @CokeZero using the hashtag #motherpieces. Winners will get a framed, painted picture of themselves sent to mommy dearest. Although the contest is now officially closed, you can check out the pictures of those who entered the competition here.
Now some of the faces shown are truly those that only a mother could love!
Yesterday we wrote about JCPenney’s digital apology to consumers for, among other things, straying away from its long-held business practice of customers using coupons to a model of very low prices at all times. Perhaps McDonald’s should be considering a digital apology for what was an opportunistic and exploitative move of jumping in on the story of Charles Ramsey’s rescue of abducted Amanda Berry in Cleveland.
Ramsey told reporters and 911 that he had just returned on his bicycle from McDonald’s when he heard a woman screaming next door. He approached the house with his “half-eaten Big Mac” when Berry told him she was trapped with her baby and not allowed out by Ariel Castro. He kicked in the bottom of the door and she crawled out of it baby in tow. Police responded following a 911 call and three women, Amanda Berry, Michelle Knight and Georgina DeJesus, were all rescued after 10 years in captivity.
It was a short while before McDonald’s jumped in on the social media bandwagon with the following tweet: “We salute the courage of Ohio kidnap victims & respect their privacy. Way to go Charles Ramsey — we’ll be in touch.” The company and a local franchise then attempted to reach out to Ramsey.
While Ramsey is a hero and should be applauded for his bravery and courage, McDonald’s could have reached out to him in a more low key manner. To McDonald’s defense, they did tell reporters that they heard from an overwhelming amount of people on Twitter to do something for the man.
A commentary in yesterday’s Los Angeles Times called McDonald’s move a “shameless move on McDonald’s part to grab a piece of the publicity surrounding this incredible and heartbreaking story. McDonald’s played no role in the rescue other than being the low-cost, high-calorie food that Ramsey happened to be eating at the time of the occurrence.” The LA Times article further states that the company could have been more “discreet” in reaching out to Ramsey.
We reported several weeks back about social media “specialists” at the Epicurious website that tweeted the following the morning after the Boston bombings: “In honor of Boston and New England may we suggest: whole-grain cranberry scones!” They also tweeted: “Boston our hearts are with you. Here’s a bowl of breakfast energy we could all use to start today.”
While McDonald’s tweet is not as noxious as Epicurious’ double social media faux pas, it does seem, for a lack of a better word, predatory. Reach out to Ramsey privately. Or if you find it necessary to promote this news event just a little, reach out to a local Cleveland news camera crew to capture video of the local franchisee honoring Ramsey. To tweet a “shout out” to Ramsey to your 1.2 followers of @McDonald’s is overtly and offensively self-promoting.
Ramsey, rather than McDonald’s, deserves media attention and will likely get an overwhelming amount of it. The Huffington Post has already written an article titled “Charles Ramsey Future: What Lies Ahead for the Hero Turned Internet Sensation.” He has been called a “casual hero and spontaneous satirist” by Russell Brand on Twitter. The guy is just hilarious.
McDonald’s, on the other hand, should take note not to do this in the future.
JCPenney is looking to reconnect with its customers in the wake of a 25 percent sales slump last year and the recent replacement of CEO Ron Johnson after leading the company for a mere 17 months. To that end, it has released a very public mea culpa utilizing traditional and social media outlets admitting mistakes and asking customers to return to the brand.
As part of the campaign to win back the hearts and minds of the American consumer, it has released an advertisement on television, Facebook and YouTube. “We heard you-now we’d love to see you,” says the female narrator. The Facebook campaign titled “We Are Listening” garnered almost 57,000 likes in just six days and approximately 3,700 Facebook users shared the video with other users of the social media platform.
JCPenney also took to Twitter with the hashtag #jcplistens. Star Jones, former co-host of The View, tweeted her support of the campaign and praised the company’s fashions as good for working women. Jones, branding guru Donny Deutsch and Padma Lakshmi all gave positive feedback about the new apology campaign during NBC’s Today Show.
Everybody likes a good comeback. It would be nice to see one happen for this iconic, yet affordable, American company that first opened its doors in Wyoming in 1902. With over 1,100 stores now in all 50 states and Puerto Rico, many livelihoods are depending on a rebound.
Let us start off by saying that we often love the promotions and advertisements that JetBlue makes on behalf of their brand. Until the recent announcement (read yesterday’s Brands blog) of Virgin America’s new seat-to-seat offering where you can send a fellow flyer a libation, snack or meal along with a friendly text, JetBlue always seemed to us like a airline that was modern and fun from its snack choices including Terra Blue Chips to the individual television for every flyer. Even its website is humorous with a login section for True Blue members called “Hi” and an area to purchase tickets titled “Buy.”
What we are not so sure about, however, is how and why JetBlue decided to weigh in via Twitter and Facebook on NBA player Jason Collins’ coming out, according to an article on yesterday’s Ad Age. Jet Blue thanked Collins, 34, for his action and tweeted “today we are all on the same team.”
Few can argue that Collins’ personal revelation was a brave and courageous act. The Washington Wizard’s center is the first person in American team sports history to come out as homosexual while still an active, professional player. What we are unsure about is why Jet Blue, who does not sponsor Collins or has not had a prior, public stance supporting gay rights, has decided to contribute to this discussion? Is it a ploy by the airline to jump onto a social cause bandwagon or is it a genuine sentiment of good will toward Collins and the gay community?
Collins’ sports sponsor Nike appropriately commented on the Wizard’s action. Nike publicly acknowledged Collins’ courage and that they were proud to have him as a Nike athlete, according to Ad Age. They further added that the sneaker company believes in an even playing field where an athlete’s sexual orientation isn’t even a consideration. Absolut Vodka, which has previously championed causes such as legalizing gay marriage, also came out via Twitter in support of Collins. Both the sentiments of Nike and Absolut seem appropriate in light of their previous relationship with the athlete (Nike) and social cause (Absolut).
There has been discussion on social media whether JetBlue’s actions in this matter was well intentioned or not. Certainly the airline stands behind its decision to praise Collins digitally and stated it has the “utmost respect” for any individual that is true to his or herself. We’d like to give the brand here the benefit of the doubt and believe it just wants to praise the act of a courageous man. So let’s set cynicism aside temporarily and instead commend Jet Blue on lending support to a person who likely wrestled with this decision to speak candidly about his sexuality for quite sometime.
A large portion of our posts report on brands that use social media to its advantage to promote products and connect positively with its consumer base. We’d be remiss, however, if we didn’t report on what should be a teachable moment for all that use digital media to promote their brand and services: the Boston Marathon and breakfast tweets social media debacle.
In what would seem like an utter failure in Social Media 101, Epicurious posted the following tweets to its approximately 386,000 strong follower base the morning following the last week’s tragedy in Boston:
We must acknowledge that Epicurious did post a tweet the day of the Marathon tragedy indicating their thoughts were with everyone in Boston. Why the next day they posted the above tweets is beyond comprehension. Twitter users reportedly complained about the breakfast and Boston related remarks. Epicurious, a Conde Nast owned food website, responded to individuals with a cut-and-paste answer of “we truly regret that our earlier food tweets seemed insensitive. Our hearts and prayers are with the people of Boston,” according to Mashable.
Both breakfast and Boston related remarks as well as individual responses to Twitter followers have been deleted. The only tweet that still remains on the Epicurious Twitter feed from April 16 regarding the debacle is “our food tweets this morning were, frankly, insensitive. Our deepest, sincere apologies.”
It should go without saying that a social media strategist should not use a tragedy to promote its product. It’s not good business and it just seems boorish and devoid of etiquette. In the Epicurious case, it would have been fine to have made the Twitter remark of regarding solidarity with Bostonians on the 15th with a tweet the next morning regarding scones without any mention of the previous day’s tragedy. Putting both together was a recipe for digital disaster.
Mistakes, however, do happen. The people that work with these digital platforms are fallible. Epicurious should make one more mea culpa, a sizeable donation to charity in memory of lives lost at the Marathon and put this chapter in its social media history on the proverbial shelf.
Whether you call it bathroom, potty or off-color humor, the newest traditional and social media campaign from Kmart for their complimentary shipping service can make the most prudish person chuckle ever so slightly. The retail giant found a way to make an otherwise ordinary offering of free shipping to consumers if an item is not found in the store fun for everyone.
With the relative onslaught of ads coming at consumers on a daily basis, one can’t deny that this is one that will be remembered for quite sometime. And with over 7.5 million views on YouTube in just four days, Kmart already looks like it is hitting social media gold with the “Ship My Pants” campaign.
If you have any comments-positive or otherwise-about the video, you can send them to@Kmart #ShipMyPants on Twitter where there are endless comments in 140 characters or less about how hilarious this social media campaign is. Or you can post your thought about the video on Facebook, where just under 27,000 people “liked” the retail chain’s posting.
It seemingly goes without saying that when Justin Bieber backs anything for kids or teens, it usually winds up being a huge hit. That’s why SpendSmart Payment Company that offers a prepaid debit card for teens signed Bieber, 19, to represent its brand through a series of videos scheduled to hit Bieber’s YouTube channel, Facebook page and Twitter feeds.
Bieber earned $55 million in 2012 and will discuss financial planning and literacy in future SpendSmart videos called “Real Talk,” according to an article earlier this week in The New York Times. This partnership with SpendSmart will yield Bieber $3.75 million for a 14-month contract, potential monthly royalties tied to the growth of active SpendSmart cards and stock options to buy up to two million shares of SpendSmart stock.
The SpendSmart formula is quite intelligent for wary parents. The card has a MasterCard logo and parents are alerted via text message and a smartphone app as soon as a purchase is made. Parents can preemptively block purchases from websites and lock down the card if they see any purchases they find objectionable, according to the Times piece.
Bieber urges teenaged fans and followers to have a financial talk with their folks. He also reminisces about the days when his family did not have alot of money, and how he had to save to get the things he wanted and make a budget.
Most interestingly, SpendSmart chose to use Bieber and focus on a social media rather than traditional advertising strategy. By linking it with Bieber’s extensive fan base of over two million YouTube followers, approximately 52 million Facebook “likes” and around 37 million Twitter followers, SpendSmart may have just made its most intelligent financial move yet.
