In doing that, Nestle could have made it clear in a non-confrontational way, while winning respect by being polite and friendly. Writing a special blog post about the issue (like Jet Blue did) could have also been used to gently lead the conversation to a more appropriate venue.

I still can’t believe the tone and language used by the Nestle Facebook page administrator, though. It was very reactive, and seemingly without much thought. It’s like they were taking it personally, and making it personal. Seriously, on a global brand’s Facebook page, who would do that??

Great point on the varying tones and etiquette used by people from different countries BTW!

Before social media emerged, convincing a client to connect with the consumer and listen to them was a difficult task. In many cases, consumers were still viewed as a number and didn’t have influence other than being able to call customer service or hold signs in the street in front of the building. Agencies that were strong consumer advocates could sometimes have a hard time getting through to the client. Now, customers must be listened to because they have a voice in social media. Advertisers who do what you accuse everyone in social media of doing, (eg. censoring, controlling, putting out propaganda, and deleting critics) are the ones that lose. Just like Nestle, who apparently wasn’t taking social media seriously and hoped their detractors would just go away.

Social media is not the problem. Marketers that sell social media without business strategy are the problem. I agree that anyone who tries to convince a company of any size to do social media (or any other service!) before undergoing strategic analysis and problem-solving is, yes, selling a boondoggle. Thanks for contributing to the conversation, John.

And THAT is an interesting aspect of social media, especially when it spreads around the world wide web, where real laws, etiquette and unwritten rules are all different. What is a regular reply from an Englishman is read as a curt reply by an American. What is a freindly joke by an Australian is seen as crossing the line by a Swede. We might all speak the same language, but we don’t really.

I'm sure there are many different reasons why this is happening… but you're probably right in that there is a general assumption that "young" employees know social media and belong in social media. Yes, young people need to be learning social media, but unless they have a solid marketing background they're not ready to take on the responsibility of representing a brand on a world stage.

Just because social media is "easy" to perform on a technical level doesn't mean it's an uncomplicated job on a branding or strategic level.

Internal guides and standards should be set up so it’s crystal clear what will be said, who will be saying it, how frequently it will be said, and how to deal with negative comments or, in this case, the fan’s altered logo which started this whole debacle. If handled properly, they tools are an excellent way to retain customers by showing them you are listening and you care. Recently for one of my clients, I turned a negative comment on Twitter into a satisfied and returning customer.

It’s a shame Nestle wasn’t monitoring their own Facebook account more closely. If they did, this rogue rep and his snarky comments never would have happened.