While United’s $180 million loss can’t necessarily be blamed to a video on YouTube, the song has undoubtedly had a very real and negative effect on United’s brand equity.  Consumers will talk and social media makes their voice louder than ever before. You can’t stop the chatter, but companies must be tapped in to social media to quickly right wrongs and head off bad press before it spins out of control.

Carroll gave United every chance, but they finally shut the door on his communications, and he even told them of his plan. While it was probably his hope to get a few million views, his first song has now been viewed more than 4.5 million times and continues to grow.

United has made a $3,000 donation to the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, but Carroll continues to be featured on Today, CNN, and news agencies from around the world. The song “United Breaks Guitars” was even the #1 Country Western song on iTunes in the UK.

Now, others are chiming in with their own remakes. Here’s one made by Gory Bateson: “Southwest Never Broke My Guitar” – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1SMcaVekVE

Nearly a year ago, Carroll saw his $3500 guitar being tossed off of his United flight by baggage personell at Ohare Airport.  When he finally got it, it had been destroyed.  Despite his best efforts to get United to compensate him over a nine month period, the company ultimately said “No.”  Therefore, he threatened to write 3 music videos telling others about his experience with United Airlines.  The first of his 3 videos hit YouTube last Monday, July 6.  Here’s the video:

In one day, it had nearly 25,000 views and almost 500 comments.  By Friday, the video had attracted over a million hits and even a YouTube video response from Taylor Guitars (the brand of guitar which Carroll mentioned was broken).  Taylor’s quick response and message to viewers was great.  The only thing Taylor could have done better would have been to offer to replace his guitar (Carroll has already spent $1200 to fix his guitar).  Here’s Taylor’s response video:

Not only did over a million people see it, but nearly 10,000 had commented on the video, discussing everything from poor service they had received to a simple, “great song.”  There were many comments also about the woman who ultimately told Carroll that United would not compensate him.  On Friday, Carroll posted his own response, letting fans know that the woman he worked with at United had been polite and she may be being unfairly attacked in the messages.  He also let fans know that United had contacted him and finally offered to compensate him for his loss.  He said that he declined their offer, but hopes they will donate it to a charity of their choice. He said still intends to create 2 more music videos about the situation. Here’s Carroll’s reponse video:

How has United responded?  According to media that have contacted United, they mentioned their phone conversation with him, but said that it is between him and them, so they plan to deal with it privately with him.  Other than being contacted directly, we have not seen any public response proactively made by United.  They’re learning a difficult lesson right now in both the power of social media and the need to respond publically to issues that have been made public.

Currently, the YouTube video has reached the 3 million view mark, and Carroll has announced that his second video is nearly complete.  It will certainly be an interesting case to keep an eye on.

Idea 1:   Use these social media to give special deals/discounts/offers to those who are “following” your business from these social media outlets.  Use a “secret word” or give out a coupon, and at least you’ll see how many of your customers are using these type of media.  It’ll also encourage more peole to want to interact with your business if they suspect there’s something good in it for them.

Idea 2:  Ask your customers for ideas within the social media.  The key to social media is participation and interaction, so why not ask them for feedback.  What is it they are looking for?  What could your business offer that would provide a better service for your customers?  What products/services you don’t currently offer, which your customers would like?  Ideas from your customers can only help to make your business better, which hopefully leads to better experiences and more profits.

Idea 3:  Give them things to help them tell others about your business.  Similar to idea #1, you could give them coupons/deals to send on to their friends.  You could also provide them something as simple as a graphic/logo for them to put on their page/blog/etc. to tell others about you.  You’d be surprised how far people will go to tell others if you just ask them and make it easy for them to do so.

Idea 4:  Announcements – whether you’re closing early, having a special, or are supporting a local event, social media provides you a quick and easy way to alert your customers to what is going on with your business. 

Idea 5:  Customer service.  Sure, people can come in your store, or call you on the phone to discuss issues, buy why not give them the ability to talk with you the way they are most comfortable.  Use the social media to address their issues, solve their problems, or fix a mistake, and they’ll use the same social media to tell their friends and neighbors about the great customer service your business is known for.

Idea 6:  Repurpose your existing advertising, tv and radio commercials, newsletter, and other promotional items.  The best part about putting these items on sites like Flickr, YouTube, etc., is that they’re free.  While you once paid for putting thse ads in the newspaper, on the radio, or on tv, you don’t have to pay a cent to put them out on these social media outlets and pointing your customers and potential customers to them.

Most business owners say they they just don’t have time to “do all this social media stuff,” but if you just take 5-10 minutes a day to impliment a few of the ideas above, we’re certain you’ll find some success.   While you might not always have the time to do it yourself, companies like ours can help you with your social media strategy and execution.  Call Kozlen Communications today to talk about how you might be able to start using social media to help your business.

Among the first, and most successful, review sites was TripAdvisor.com.   Travelers could review the hotels they’ve stayed in and tell others about their experiences.  For me, it’s a must see website before I book any hotel.  It has helped me avoid rude staff, hotel construction, and generally bad hotels.  It’s also helped me to see “real” photos of the hotel, rooms, and its ammeneties. Now, the site has expanded beyond hotel reviews, and asks travelers to review local restaurants and popular siteseeing activities.

Few people realized the real power of Google Maps when it was first launched, but with its incorporation with the iPhone, there are now millions that rely on it.  While most know that Google Maps helps people find your business (sign up now for Google Local if you haven’t already), others aren’t aware that Google also offers reviews of these businesses.  Google local both provide its own users’ reviews and aggregates reviews from sites like TripAdvisor.  So when someone uses the internet or their iPhone to find a local business/service, they not only find where you’re located, and your contact information, but they also find user reviews.

Similar sites have recently started to take off, such as Yelp.com.  Based on the success of sites like TripAdvisor, they plan to offer reviews on everything local – restaurants, retail stores, etc.  Many use this service when traveling to an unfamiliar city to find businesses (and decided if they’re any good).  While there are still only a few reviews listed for most Central Illinois businesses, it is a site that is gaining some traction and is one you should keep your eye on.

While the thought of people virtually shouting reviews about your business across the internet can be scary, it can also be tremendously helpful.  It’s extremely important to monitor these types of sites, but its even more important to listen.  The people out there talking about your business are providing you with some honest and straightforward feedback to make your business better.  Make the necessary corrections and then encourage your customers to tell their friends about their experience, blog about you, or visit one of these sites to provide a review.  There’s no shame in asking your satisfied customers to help spread the word about you and your business, and it could just help you the next time someone decides to get information about your business from one of these sites.

Contact us today if you’re interested in finding out how you can use social networking to help promote your business and increase sales.

However, research firm Nielsen reported this week that approximately 60% of those who sign up for Twitter, stop using it after a month.  Of course Twitter is all the rage and everyone is signing up just to see what it is all about.  I must admit that when I signed up for Twitter about a year ago, I let the account sit for a while… I really didn’t get the point.  However, I forced myself to use it at the end of last month, and now I probably check it more often than email.  It’s been an invaluable source of information and communication, and I only see it getting more valuable as it becomes more mainstream (and more of my friends and business associates start to use it).  I have noticed however, that it has caused a little bit of an overwhelming feeling to be so connected all of the time and I find it nice to step away from it every once in a while.  To those who are just getting started on Twitter… stick with it, even when you don’t see the point in it.  It’ll come to you sooner rather than later.

There’s been speculation for months about how Twitter plans to make money, while rumors swirl about potential buyers and the company’s pledge to remain independent.    A program rolled out today called ExecTweets is sponsored by Microsoft and is an extremely cautious first step into using marketing or advertising on its service.

One of the fastest growing sites on the web, Twitter plans to promote the ExecTweet site on its main login page and in the box Twitter just started putting on profile pages (usually with a definition of a Twitter term).   Mobile users of Twitter, which use apps like Twitterrific, Tweetie, and TwitterFon, likely won’t see the ads, but Twitter is likely testing the waters to see what its users will tolerate in terms of advertising on the site.

Interestingly, setting up the site ExecTweet did not require Twitter’s approval or participation.  Twitter’s open API allows users to repurpose data from the site for their own Twitter apps, but Microsoft did launch the branding campaign with Twitter’s approval and participation (in terms of promotion of the site at Twitter.com).

Microsoft set up the deal via its Federated Media ad network/platform/agency, and Federated Media says it plans on launching similar programs on Twitter with other clients.

1) Lust: Don’t go lusting after the hot social network. Find the right fit for your brand.

2) Gluttony: Don’t just go everywhere when you don’t have the staff or the bandwidth. Start small. Don’t overdo it.

3) Greed: Don’t create something in social media that is only intended to drive a direct response. It’s not about traffic – it’s about relationships.

4) Sloth: Don’t neglect your social media relationships… there’s nothing worse than not having relationships in place when you need them.

5) Envy:  Don’t play copycat or say “get me one of those.”  Come up with an original idea of your own.  If you try to copy someone else’s you’ll get called out.

6) Wrath: You can’t beat the stick down when stuff doesn’t the way you want it to. Have a plan to deal with the worst before it comes up.  Also carefully consider what you put out there, because off-handed comments can bite you.

7) Pride: Be prepared to get dinged, get criticized, but don’t let that get in the way.

Social media has been almost a cat and mouse game between marketers on consumers.  Consumers find social media they like, and marketers usually aren’t far behind trying to exploit that social medium to get their message in front of those consumers.  So it’s not entirely surprising that – every once in a while – consumers fight back, sending a message to marketers that it’s their turf they’re playing on.

Yesterday, Skittles was using it’s Twitter feed (the page displaying everying consumers are saying about Skittles on Twitter) as its homepage.  That’s when a few Twitterers decided it was time to let Skittles know who’s ground they were on.  Most of the “Tweets” had been about Skittles campaign, until pranksters decided to start posting things the brand really wasn’t comfortable with.  So, Skittles decided yesterday to remove Twitter from its rotating social media homepages.  It’s a risky move to reponde in this way, and we’ll see what kind of consumer backlash happens.  It’ll be interesting to see if their Wikipedia page or Facebook fan page get attacked next – I wouldn’t be surprised if it did.  You can bet everyone in the marketing community is watching to see how this plays out (because if it does, you can’t bet they’ll all be ready to follow in their footsteps… and if it doesn’t you can bet other brand managers and CMO’s will be on CNBC talking about how they’d never do anything like that – Donny Deutch, the soapbox is yours).