There’s a promotion going on for SoBe Lifewater. As part of the marketing push, one promoter emailed Chris Brogan with an offer to send a case of the product along if he so desired. The following is a word-for-word copy of the email as quoted by Brogan:
Hey. Were sending out incase influencer packages for our client, SoBe Lifewater. Tge packages are going to interesting people from the world of film, music, sports and digital. If you have any interest feel free to check out the link that shows past campaigns or just an email me an address and I’ll get it out to you. All the best. [link removed]
It’s not very well written. It’s pretty terrible, actually.
As I see it, there are three ways to respond to such an email:
Delete the email – You could even go so far as to report the email as spam and block the sender’s account if you wished.
Post a copy of the email and rant about how bad it is on your blog – Chris chose this option.
Contact the author – Pleasantly offer to turn a failed marketing effort into a learning experience.
The first option is simple. The second option is probably something you could derive enjoyment from in the short term. The third option offers an entire world of possibility.
You might ask, “Seriously, Seth? A world of possibility? How is emailing some no-name marketing grunt going to change the world for anybody?”
Here’s one possible timeline:
Grunt emails Chris.
Chris emails grunt with a quick explanation of who he is and what he does. (Do you have a short bio you can cut-and-paste yet? If not, get one.) He offers to give Grunt some quick pointers on optimizing his email efforts.
Grunt, now aware that the “guy from the list of 5,000 social media influencers email list” is offering to help, agrees to a quick phone conversation.
As the conversation is winding down, (It need not be long. Just enough to get a few points across) Grunt mentions that his project manager might want to speak with Chris. Contact info is exchanged.
After a few conversations with members of the agency hired to promote SoBe, Chris is hired to do a series of workshops on using new media.
Is that an unrealistic timeline? Possibly. However, experience has taught me–in both positive and negative ways–that every point of contact matters. There’s just something about people who position themselves as resources and treat others with respect that draws me in.
[For those wondering, I think Chris Brogan is a great guy. I think of this post as a continuation of Chris's post because I suspect he'd have written something similar if he'd had the time.]
If you don’t know what cow tipping is, here’s a quick how-to:
Step 1: Call up your friends. Step 2: Find a cow. Step 3: Sneak up on the cow. Step 4: Have your friends join you and simultaneously push the cow so it falls over on its side. Step 5: Run away laughing and tell your other friends about how you bested the giant beast.
Why would people want to do that? Because they find it amusing and they can. There are a lot of stereotypes about cow tippers. Most run along the lines of boredom, alcohol consumption, and limited exposure to cultural activities that improve the mind.
What’s digital cow tipping?
Another quick how-to:
Step 1:Choose a cow to tip. In this instance, a cow isn’t a four-legged beast but an unsuspecting corporate entity with an online presence. The recent spam attack on Twitter’s trending topics is a perfect example of digital cow tipping.
Step 2:Send out a “call to action” to your social network. Social media allows us to quickly build relationships that function along the same lines as what I refer to as “drinking buddies.” They’re sort of people who are good for help on a quick project but probably nothing long-term. (You can build long-term friendships through social media but those take a lot of sustained effort and mutual commitment.) You don’t need real friends for digital cow tipping. You just need a bunch of people who will click a mouse button a few times.
Step 3:Have your friends simultaneously leverage their digital influence against the entity you’ve decided to attack. Real time mass communication systems like Twitter make planning simple and cost-free. “Please send a tweet to @digitalcow and let them know they should fix my laptop for free” will get retweeted many times and @digitalcow’s stream will fill up with references to your complaint.
Step 4:Enjoy watching the mayhem you’ve created as the company stumbles over itself trying to understand what just happened and how to respond. Social media is still so new that many users will support your escapade just because they like to see companies respond to social media pressure. The company will probably fix your laptop for free even though you didn’t have the appropriate warranty because they’d rather shut you up than spend resources trying to prove you wrong.
Step 5:Realize that you’re a selfish idiot who just abused a system for personal gain.
There’s been a lot of talk about the need for a system to keep trolls and spammers out of social media. We already have a system. The block, unfriend, unfollow, and “report abuse” functions built into every platform we use on a daily basis allows for moderation to be effectively crowd-sourced. All the system needs in order to work well is a group of users who think before they act, ponder before they speak, and pause before they click.
Digital cow tipping, as you’ve probably noticed, works on the same premise of social media lobbying. Namely, enough voices sounding together can draw a real reaction out of an inattentive beast.
In order for this technique to continue to work and to work well, we need to do a better job of keeping insidious thugs out of the social media pasture.
When you see somebody abusing (truly so, not just using in a way you don’t prefer) a social media platform, don’t just complain. Use the tools you’ve been given to moderate that person’s behavior. Unfriend, unfollow, block, report as spam, and recognize that you’ve done us all a service by taking action.
Social media has given the consumer such a powerful communication tool. Let’s not be “too busy” to spend some time keeping it running smoothly and effectively.
I’m going to try and do a better job at that. I hope you will, too.
Leveraging social media against corporate brands for personal gain serves only to damage an entire mode of communication.
Social media provides an inexpensive and powerful platform for regular people to make their voices heard to a massive audience. Unfortunately, people don’t always use that power in reasonable and positive ways.
When a business faces an attack on its brand through social media, what is the appropriate response?
For instance, what about party-goers who have a few drinks, get out of hand, and are expelled from a club? When iphones come out and the club brand is ravaged online by angry tweets and videos about poor service, how is the club supposed to respond? Is the club supposed to publicly admit wrongdoing when none was committed and set a precedent for others to complain so they can get free stuff? It’s a slippery slope for both a brand and the consumers that enjoy it.
Consider: A video in which country singer Dave Carroll mourns the damage of his Taylor guitar (supposedly) during a flight on United Airlines:
On his website, Dave Carroll moans the saga of his flight with United Airlines and the discovery of his damaged guitar. After getting the runaround from low-level company representatives about a damage claim, he concludes:
I realized then that as a songwriter and traveling musician I wasn’t without options. In my final reply to Ms. Irlweg [The United Airlines representative] I told her that I would be writing three songs about United Airlines and my experience in the whole matter. I would then make videos for these songs and offer them for free download online, inviting viewers to vote on their favourite United song. My goal: to get one million hits in one year.
It’s an interesting marketing plan for a small time musician in need of some publicity. He finished his diatribe with,
I should thank United. They’ve given me a creative outlet that has brought people together from around the world. We had a pile of laughs making the recording and the video while the images are spinning on how to make “United: Song 2” even better than the first. So, thanks United! If my guitar had to be smashed due to extreme negligence I’m glad it was you that did it. Now sit back and enjoy the show.
And so he launched his “show” with website updates and a youtube video that continues to gain leverage through social media.
One of the drawbacks of social media is that most users have short attention spans and little use for fact-checking. I did a bit of my own fact-checking about Dave Carroll and his #unitedbreaksguitars experience: It turns out that United explicitly states on its website that it is “not liable for damage to fragile items” and includes the type of cases approved for transport of musical instruments.
Dave states that he witnessed ground crew throwing his band’s instruments and yet he “neglected” to check his ostensibly-beloved Taylor guitar upon arrival. He says, “The guitar case looked ok and we were tired.”
Now, take the perspective of the United Airlines representative dealing with this situation: A guy complains to you that his expensive guitar was damaged but that he didn’t notice it until a day after his flight. What is your first thought?
If your silly claim/fraud detector went off, good. It should. There are many ways a guitar could be broken in 24hrs and it would be ridiculous for an airline to welcome a suspicious liability.
Dave admits to filing a claim after leaving the airport. I’m familiar enough with shipping claims to know that once you leave the location of a business you’re filing against without confirming damages, your chances of successfully settling a claim dramatically dwindle.
But all was not lost for Dave Carroll and the Sons of Maxwell. They had social media, some production talent, and a desire to embarrass a company into bending its rules just to shut them up.
United Airlines responded via Twitter to the barrage of tweets directed at them concerning the video:
Is this a step forward for social media? I don’t think so. Dave Carroll and his Sons of Maxwell get some cheap publicity but at what cost to the rest of us?
We encourage companies to engage their customers through social media but little is said about how to deal with rogue campaigns bent on embarrassing a brand into cooperation.
It’s tempting to jump on the “UnitedBreaksGuitars” bandwagon and gleefully watch as social media is used to force a company into action. ( This in spite of legitimate reasons for inaction.) It’s tempting to say “the customer is always right” and ignore the need for policies meant to protect companies from fraudulent claims. It’s tempting to get caught up in the seductive power of social media and forget that some people are interested only in promoting themselves.
Did United Airlines break Dave Carroll’s guitar? Perhaps. But the only person he should be singing to right now is himself for not checking his guitar for damages when knew the rigors of its journey.
If social media is going to be a sustainable conversation between consumers and brands, it’s important that we show respect to the brands that bravely step into this space. We need to be responsible participants in social media and use the powerful tool we’ve been given for good causes and not for senseless complaints.
Social media need not be about consumers whining to get free stuff. It must not be.
How do you think United Airlines and other companies faced with a similar situation should respond?
If you don’t know what cow tipping is, here’s a quick how-to:
Leveraging social media against corporate brands for personal gain serves only to damage an entire mode of communication.
