I’ve been keeping an interested eye on the Paperchase/Hidden Eloise story over the last few days (and to a lesser extent the Kevin Smith/Southwest Airlines story) from a brand management perspective.

It does seem sometimes (to those new to it) as though social media has come out of nowhere and is suddenly starting to have a major impact on companies behaviour and responsibility. The reality is that social media is an extension of traditional ‘over the fence’ consumer to consumer recommendations – except that social media tools make it easy for consumers to reach hundreds and thousands of other consumers at speed. Some companies haven’t quite caught on to this yet and are struggling to bend their old customer relationship models into this new shape. The more forward thinking businesses realise that repurposing old ways isn’t that effective and they develop new ways of interacting with their customers alongside the old.

Some thoughts I’ve had on those recent ‘Twitterstorms’ (please do visit my blog if these links don’t connect):

http://lyndseymichaels.com/2010/02/next-steps-for-paperchase-a-brand-issue/

http://lyndseymichaels.com/2010/02/the-mob-shoots-from-the-hip-a-modern-st-valentines-day-massacre/

This is an interesting discussion that I think will become more and more necessary as time goes on. I do wish more non-media businesses would join in though, it’s unfortunate for all that few do as yet.

Best regards
Lyndsey

Perhaps in general it should be ‘could social media bring a business to its knees?’. Social media has forced openness and transparency in businesses that was not possible possible before. The power has shifted to the common people who can, if dissatified with the business, impact the business and brand very publically. As the CEO of Dominos Pizza said ‘you can only fight social fire with social media’. A business or brand has to be aware and be prepared to engage in conversations about their product or brand. This is the way forward.

Best regards

Varsha