Facebook has become a power that can shape opinion and change the course of things that can regarded as a dead cert, for example for the past 7years Simon Cowell has produced an artist from one of his pop reality programmes and they have become the UK Christmas number one. However things for Simon Cowell were not going to run as smoothly this year, enter Rage Against the Machine and the Facebook campaign which amassed a total of 537,365 fans and rocked the charts by taking the Christmas top spot from Cowells hands. This can only be described as a PR nightmare for the music guru as many went on to question whether his grip over the music industry was slipping. More globally Facebook is also said to have been an influential factor in regards to the election of Barack Obama as President of the USA. Facebook and other social networking sites have allowed consumers to air their views and highlight their upset to the masses creating an even greater problem for companies than negative media representation.The chocolate manufacturer Nestle is the most recent company to be targeted on Facebook as a result of its actions. The situation with Nestle started after Greenpeace accused them of not being environmentally friendly and therefore decided to start a campaign to make t
he wider audience aware of Nestles downfalls. In the past Nestle have had a poor reputation with regards to their CSR. As a result of this recent campaign consumers were fast in showing their alliance and as a result of this people were quick to make their opinions heard via social networking sites primarily Facebook and Twitter. The complaints towards Nestle started to pile up with some users even doctoring the Nestle brand logo to take a more underhand dig at them. The campaign involving Greenpeace is certainly a PR problem in itself however the reaction that Nestle have taken towards the comments posted on their page has created an even bigger need for PR guidance as the media representation of them has been less than positive.
he wider audience aware of Nestles downfalls. In the past Nestle have had a poor reputation with regards to their CSR. As a result of this recent campaign consumers were fast in showing their alliance and as a result of this people were quick to make their opinions heard via social networking sites primarily Facebook and Twitter. The complaints towards Nestle started to pile up with some users even doctoring the Nestle brand logo to take a more underhand dig at them. The campaign involving Greenpeace is certainly a PR problem in itself however the reaction that Nestle have taken towards the comments posted on their page has created an even bigger need for PR guidance as the media representation of them has been less than positive.
Nestle have asked Facebook users not to doctor the brand logo and this has been met with a level of distaste, however the manner in which the representative from Nestle has replied to these comments has come under great scrutiny creating an even greater PR nightmare for the brand. An example of one of the conversations can be seen here. As is highlighted in PRweek Nestle has struggled to maintain popularity as criticism from consumers grows. I think it would be basic PR knowledge that when one is trying to resolve a tempestuous situation with such a dominant power as Greenpeace that it would be better to try and keep its customers in favour. However this negative approach taken by Nestle will have only created even greater problems than may have first been considered.The Greenpeace problem may not have initially garnered a substantial amount of media attention however the patronising tone that was used by a member of the Nestle company has certainly resulted in a PR success for Greenpeace as it has outraged many and therefore made their issue come to light. Nestle must be careful or they may find they have a complete PR disaster to contend with. In PRweek it is stated that the Nestle situation was becoming a social media crisis. This is a rather painful PR lesson for Nestle to have to learn.
I question whether there is any company that is big enough to take on the power that comes with the mass mobilisation of Facebook or if Nestle is simply one of a long line of organisations that will have to answer to social networking sites?
The video below is an example of the tactics used by Greenpeace to tarnish the image of the Nestle brand.
Nestle really has made a huge PR blunder - firstly by not confronting the wildfire rumours and confronting the Greenpeace allegations by way of public statement via its website for example and then they let someone who obviously was in no shape to handle the barrage of FB criticism...
ReplyDeleteThe same rules apply to social media as they do to any other communication medium - you don't engage in a heated argument with reporters at a press conference, so why would you lose composure on something as powerful and instant as FB??
I think that organisations, large or small, can stand to benefit greatly from social media BUT only if they know how to use it professionally. They need to understand and treat it as a type of legitimate communication between their stakeholders and themselves.
I think that Nestlé has created its own crisis, because the media are not talking about the palm oil or the deforestation, they are talking about the bad communication of Nestlé.
ReplyDeleteI think that the best behaviour of the company would be say the true and say that they are looking for new ways of production, but never attack the media or your consumer. This is an example that what could happen when you attack these kind of stakeholders, the new changes and it is not the Greenpeace´s campaign against Nestlé´s production otherwise the bad use of the social media by Nestlé.
The company should to have a professional to answer the comments in the social media because like we can see with this case, a bad manage of the situation or an unfortunate comment can trigger a crisis.
I find this blunder by Nestle really interesting. If you aren't going to take Facebook seriously, why engage with it at all? I agree with the comment by Sabrina that social media communication should be taken as seriously as any other type of communication.
ReplyDeleteI have to commend Greenpeace for their hard-hitting tactics which are the reason behind the crisis which now faces Nestle. It is partly their good PR which has brought it to this stage.