DISCLAIMER: I WORK WITH SEVERAL COMPANIES IN THE DIGITAL SPACE, HOWEVER THE OPINION ON MY BLOG IS AGNOSTIC AND IN NO WAY INFLUENCED BY THOSE I MAY WORK WITH…
There is such a rush to be hip, cool, attract followers and grow a social media presence that sometimes there is a danger in people being asleep at the switch. In some cases, the damage is minor and can be lost amidst a flurry of other more relevant information. In other cases if caught and corrected it can even be deleted before the world throws the misstep into the social whirlpool of bloggers, retweeters and even competition.
This week there were two examples of those either at the head of brand management in social media or the gatekeepers in quality control being not in lockstep with what was being sent out under the brand name. The first brand was Chrysler, which fired its new media company after a staffer assigned to tweet on their behalf dropped an “F Bomb” laced tirade about drivers in Detroit, and the second was the sports content site Bleacher Report, which was forced to remove content and issue a public apology Friday after a blogger in their network posted what he thought to be funny comments comparing the events in Japan t. goings on in American sports. In the second case the story made it to Bleacher Report's home page before it was removed, which made the situation even more troubling for an outlet which has made lots of positive news in recent months in the name of “Citizen Sports” bloggers and young writers with a very niche coverage space.
In both cases, you have a brand looking to find its proper spot in social media with a younger, engaged and passionate audience. Chrysler is in various stages of recovery as a brand, and made some very loud noise earlier this year by using wrapper Eminem in their ads, clearly a departure from an image that since its inception has been about older luxury. Their social media presence has also grown exponentially, and although not as successful yet as the Ford Motor Company, is certainly on its way. Part of that push has been to be edgier and different than in the past to attract a new consumer. That edginess obviously went way too far this past week, as their agency, which had control of the brand's social media platform, caused huge problems with their expletive post.
Bleacher Report is not that different. A big fundraising round, the hiring of media exec Brian Grey to oversee its growth, the recruitment of veteran writer King Kaufman to assist its young writers in improving their journalistic style, and a loud social media push in many markets across the country was moving the overall image of the site upward. Still, the big traffic in most sports or entertainmen. sites comes from either edginess or breaking news, and BR needed to find ways to do both, neither of which is easy. So Friday someone took a chance, moving the story off one of its small blogs to the home page. The result generated buzz for a short time (even got the site to Deadspin) but really was counter to the progress the site had been making in the mainstream, and was definately counter to the image the senior staff, and Grey in particular, had been portraying in the media. The response was firm and straightforward. Grey issued a very public apology, announced a donation to Japanese relief, and removed the blog from the BR network. He also announced an investigation into his internal staff to see who made the decision to move the story to the home page in the first place.
Both instances point to the issue of upward growth using social media. In many cases you need to be edgy and get close to the line to draw big traffic, and perhaps bigger dollars and attention. Sometimes the edge gets blurred and heads roll. Sometimes the blurred edge is accepted and the brand goes on a wild ride of popularity. The difference in the two cases is in the decision making. Chrysler outsourced their social media and apparently lost control of what is going out the door, which is a very dangerous thing for a brand of that size, or any size. BR had internal control and made a bad call. The good news is that both acted quickly to send the message of zero tolerance, and both probably got a nice pop on the buzzmeter for the week. Whether that pop is good for the long term brand growth is TBD. The bottom line is none of these decisions can happen in a vacuum, and the gatekeepers have to always pause and decide if what is on the end of the send button is truly reflective of the brand direction. In both Chrysler and Bleacher Report, the answer is probably, hopefully no. Both instances can probably be served up as lessons learned, and the 24/7 world we live in goes on to whatever is next. Also for both, the hope is that effective damage control lessens the loss, and the re-examination of policies and procedures leads to a positive track once again. These type of issues are not uncommon, but serve as great examples as to what can happen when the hard work of a brand to go in one direction gets derailed when the gatekeeper looks the other way, even for a short period.
