We recently reported on the growing number of US brands and advertisers that regularly use Facebook as an advertising channel, estimated to be more than 80% of the Fortune Global 500. This was a complete reversal of earlier policy.
In the interest of balanced reporting, a few words of caution where this medium has backfired for certain brands and their companies in the United Kingdom.
Earlier this year:-
- Tesco had to pull the plug on an unofficial Facebook group called 'Tesco employees could rule the world'. The group which had 2,000 followers were involved in what was seen as less than complimentary comments about customers.
- Virgin Atlantic unofficial Facebook content pulled after comments about flight safety and customers were made.
- British Airways similarly pulled unofficial content from the Facebook group “London Gatwick Ground Staff" when staff allegedly commented on customers.
However, the key words to focus on from above are “earlier this year”, “unofficial” and “reversal”.
The US case study would clearly indicate that there is a reversal in process.
Companies are seeing the value of Facebook and social media as an advertising channel and ensuring that lessons learnt earlier this year (not only in the UK) are addressed and that official rather than unofficial groups are established.
Bottom line: social media is here to stay and get your content up before others do.
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