John S. Wolfe

In mid-March 8-year-old Harry Winsor of Boulder, Colo. sent a letter to The Boeing Co. with a design for an airplane – done in crayon.

The next week he received a form letter from Boeing stating that, while it appreciated his suggestion, the company for legal reasons does not accept “unsolicited ideas” and that his message was being disposed.

Well, Harry’s father, John Winsor, happens to be an advertising executive and influential blogger. He shared his son’s experience with his followers and the outcry, needless to say, was not favorable to Boeing. The “diss” went viral – and Boeing found itself looking like a faceless, insensitive, condescending monolith. All because of a standard reply letter.

Ten years ago it might have only been a blemish among chatty parents at a Boulder cocktail party. In 2010, however, social media took the issue and disseminated it around the world.

Managing one’s brand reputation and using social media successfully were two of the topics in a March 13 seminar of the Phoenix chapter of the American Marketing Association.

The session, at Jobing.com’s Phoenix headquarters, was led by Cathy Planchard, general manager of Allison & Partners’ local office, and colleague Brent Diggins.

To Boeing’s credit, Diggins noted, Corporate Communications Director Todd Blecher became aware of the situation and turned it into a positive. Blecher contacted Harry, tweeted about the situation and engaged the boy (and his father). A Boeing engineer followed up with a letter to Harry with the latest design trends and Blecher offered a plant tour and sent along some T-shirts and pencils.

In another twist, Alaska Airlines – whose logo appeared on Harry’s creation – capitalized on the situation and sent the boy a model airplane.

A company’s “crisis management” needs to include a specific plan with documented action items, like proactive engagement of critics and alternative web pages, Diggins said.

“A social media crisis can emanate from a small group of people and turn into a firestorm,” he said.

Motrin (parent: Johnson & Johnson) found this out the hard way. In a November 2008 ad campaign, the pain reliever released a video making fun of “babywearing,” implying it created strains on one’s back and neck. “Mommy bloggers” found it offensive and launched a blistering campaign of posts and emails. They leveraged Twitter with #motrinmoms tweets.

Within a few days Motrin had pulled any reference to the campaign and apologized.

Companies need to be afraid of mistreating customers, he said. “Anti” groups can pop up on Facebook in a matter of moments, and a carefully crafted brand can be diminished.

Diggins recommends companies initiate company blogs, which tend to be more human than official company announcements. He also said the days of ignoring a pesky critic are long gone. The smarter approach is to try to engage the individual; if things don’t work out, the company will at least appear to have been cordial.

Planchard said a mix of forces is changing how marketers do business.

Getting a message into the mainstream media is more difficult and less impactful. Newspapers have fewer readers and even TV shows like Oprah do not have the “pull” they once did.

Instead, Allison & Partners explores ways to get mention in prominent blogs.

“The approach now is, ‘Get me on Mashable and Pete Cashmore with two million followers,” she said.

Companies should still use journalists but they need to know where to find them and to let them find company spokesmen. She uses Muckrack, a website that follows journalists’ Twitter posts, to get an idea of who is involved in her clients’ fields.

“Seeing what is being reported on can provide an opportunity for a client,” she said. “You want to engage the reporter, and perhaps offer a different take on an issue.”

Allison & Partners also counsels clients on engaging customers directly. She cited a situation with P.F. Chang’s. The restaurant chain wanted to introduce a children’s menu.

Instead of going a traditional route, with a press release, the company identified 58 “Mommy bloggers” in Arizona and invited them – and their families – to eat at the restaurant. The guests then provided feedback directly to the company culinary director.

“They (the moms) really helped improve the process,” Planchard said. “The ROI was great, almost like an inexpensive focus group.”

She promotes the “three M’s”: Monitor, Mingle and Measure. Interaction is key.

“Once you’re engaged with a community, it is easy to go back and ask questions of them, like their likes and dislikes,” she said.

It is also important for companies to integrate its social media efforts into its other PR efforts, like advertising and marketing. Brand management is a team project.

Going forward, Planchard anticipates even greater use of social media. “Social search,” real-time information in Google on user-generated content, is coming. Ratings systems are also growing in popularity.

Hyperlocal news sites and location-based sites like FourSquare and Gowalla (an Allison & Partners client) could affect marketing strategies as well.

“What this seems to be coming down to is personalized customer service,” she said. “It’s about creating that ‘Oh, My God!” moment when someone says, ‘I can help you.’”