Social Media Stories

May 14, 2009•Blog Posts•Online & Digital Media•Social Media• by author

Vivian C.

Today, social media offer the biggest “bang for your buck” when it comes to communicating with your customers, especially when compared to traditional media. As a matter of fact, social media is so powerful that it could make you and your company a superstar overnight at virtually no cost. However, it can just as easily destroy your reputation.

Take some tips from the successes and failures of others’ social media stories.

Susan Mania

Susan Boyle, a 47 year-old Scottish woman, sang her first song for the television show, Britain’s Got Talent, on April 11th, 2009. Her voice shocked the judges, the audience, and soon after, the world. The video hit YouTube like wildfire and has attracted almost 100 million hits in two weeks.

Thanks to the broadcasting power of social media, this “nobody” has become one of the most well-known singers in the world.

Boyle’s surprising performance not only gave a name to Britain’s Got Talent around the rest of the world but also gave her a large worldwide fan-base. She has been on Good Morning America, The Early Show and Oprah. According to Visible Measures, which tracks online video usage (see below), Susan Boyle received more views than President Obama’s victory speech. These numbers were taken only one week after the original airdate of her audition. Numbers like these show marketers and advertisers exactly what the possibilities are in the social media spectrum of advertising.

Chicago’s Domino’s Pizza is a-Twitter

We have seen how the international business ran a successful campaign via social media and here is an example for small or local business to reach customer intimacy. One Domino’s Chicago customer expressed dissatisfaction on her Twitter page, complaining that the store made a mistake on her order. Within the hour, Ramon De Leon, the regional manager of Domino’s Pizza in Chicago, noticed the post on the alert function on Twitter and replied right away, promptly making a video to apologize for the error shortly thereafter.

The video was published on Twitter and expressed a message that meant more than a mere apology for a botched order, but rather, showed how a regional manager cares about all of his clients. This message was conveyed through the wonders of social media and turned a potentially detrimental situation into a positive one.

It’s Not Always Hearts and Butterflies

Not every social media campaign brings a satisfactory result. Earlier this year, Burger King launched an application on Facebook called “Whopper Sacrifice” that gave Facebookers a coupon for a free Whopper if they deleted 10 “friends” from their Facebook lists.

At first, the application created quite a buzz as Facebookers scurried to delete their cohorts from their friends lists. Ten days later, however, Burger King learned that all that glitters is not gold- BK marketers decided to terminate the application due to complaints that it was causing rifts within their consumers’ personal relationships. And while the campaign did generate a buzz, it was ultimately deemed unsuccessful by most marketers, as the franchise created a social media controversy that may have inflicted harm on their brand image.