Listen up! Part 2

When can the online social buzz about you work in your favour (as opposed to against it)? The example below is a tad dated, but illustrative nonetheless.

In August 2007, somebody posted this video in YouTube of a bug in the ’08 version of EA’s Tiger Woods PGA Tour game that seemingly allowed users who hit shots into water hazards to play them by simply levitating on water (he dubbed it the “the Jesus shot” – triggering calls for a boycott by religious groups!). The sheer reach of YouTube guaranteed at least 760,000 people viewed the documented bug. While not an egregious glitch, it was a faux pas in quality assurance. EA could  have been apologetic, or hit back hard using their clout to even take down the video, or even pretend it did not exist which could have let the glitch manifest itself into something greater. They did none of these. Instead they used the video as inspiration for a new ad “responding” to that video, by showing that it wasn’t a “glitch” at all, but that Tiger really can walk on water and hit a golf ball.

EA listened, and well, also showed a good sense of humour. EA’s response video has attracted close to 2.8 million viewers, more than 3 times the views for the original bug video, not to mention close to 40 responses and more than 4,000 comments. So successful was the response that it was eventually aired on TV and became the centrepiece of a major marketing campaign – an explosive viral ad thus became the means of creating buzz for a new product. And in a major reversal of source material, the YouTube video led to a TV ad (the reverse being the norm). To imagine it all started with a user-posted video of a bug.

The social web’s ability to reach many people at once also helps you realize savings in other forms. Solve someone’s problem on the phone, and nobody knows. Solve the same problem by writing on a blog, and it satisfies thousands, at zero extra cost. And if people never call because they found the answer, you are quickly seeing considerable savings straightaway. Personally I have always preferred scouring online for solutions – it’s faster, usually more comprehensive, and almost always works.

You could also use micro-blogging services like Twitter to douse PR fires before they erupt (not everyone can fight fires like EA). Ford Motors for instance used Twitter to appease users who were angry after the carmaker sued an enthusiast website that was selling unauthorized Ford merchandise. When fans of the website posted angry messages, Ford “tweeted back” to explain the company’s position. PepsiCo last year also used Twitter to weaken a gathering storm over an ad series depicting a cartoon calorie character committing suicide.

So serious are companies taking to prepare themselves to engage with social media, that, as Financial Times reports,  they are creating high-level jobs with titles such as director for social media, head of communities and conversation, vice-president of experiential marketing and digital communications manager – their brief being to “monitor and influence what is being said about their companies on the Internet.”

Bottomline: the power of the openness of web 2.0 is stark; but not to be feared. People will inevitably say whatever they want to say. Web 2.0 simply magnifies their voice multifold in a very short time. Either you can be aware of, and engage in the dialogue occurring in the social web, or the conversation can (and will) happen without you. Use social media correctly, and it can well transform your business.