Failures of certain Brands on Facebook, a presentation made as part of the Social Media Marketing course by Prof. Kiruba Shankar at Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai.

1. A Presentation on
Social Media Marketing
Siddharth Garg FT13172 www.siddharthgarg.com
Ken Sekhar FT13141 www.kensekhar.com
Kriti Sharma FT13342 www.kritisharma.com
Akhil Sharma FT13200 www.akhilsharma.com
Anup Pandit FT13209 www.anuppandit.com

2. Tesla Motors Facebook story
• A high-end, zero-emissions car company that already sold out of its
The Message newest car, the Model S, before it even appeared in showrooms
• Tesla is different from traditional automotive manufacturers like Audi
Winning and BMW that want to be positioned as more eco-friendly
Edge
• Facebook wall comments/posts
The Path
• Relying solely on its audience's wall comments for engagement
The Mistake
• Tesla missed the opportunity to share its unique niche and
Missed bus differentiate itself from its competition

3. Comparison
Audi vs Tesla
Audi
1. Selective & interesting 1. Information Overload for
content users the viewers
2. Clear message & brand 2. Generalizing the niche,
focus brand dilution
3. User/consumer generated 3. Company generated
content content
4. Clear engagement, not just 4. Throwing out information,
posting, creatively putting hard to relate brand with
content and relating to consumer’s lifestyle, yet to
customers lifestyle/likings develop the brand passion
Tesla

4. Learnings:
• Posts on Facebook wall are just a
starting point; posts are not a
brand drive
• When it comes to encouraging
fans to get more involved with
your brand, simply posting on
your wall isn't enough
• You need to engage them so
they're interested in your
backstory and they want to
understand why they should buy
from you
• Not Having Answers to “What
Exactly Is It?" and "Why Should I
Want It?” – will lead to failure
• Need to evolve in the market

5. Failure to Communicate
• When Netflix raised its charges,
enraged fans took to the digital
airwaves
• Fans posted around 11,000 comments
• Many of the comments were not
replied to
• None of the comments/posts were
replied to immediately
• Reassurances were constantly made to
the fans regarding the latest policy,
met with even more venomous
comments

6. Learnings
• Facebook not the medium to
address current business
challenges
• Needs a large team, without
which you just come off as
unresponsive
• Responses also get buries in a pile
of comments, especially if not
addressed immediately
• Fans won’t forgive: “I think
Christmas will be spend shopping
for a new streaming service.”

7. Staying Quiet on
Facebook
• Goldman Sachs blamed by many for
the recession
• Viewed as a poster child for
Corporate Greed
• Goldman Sachs failed to comment on
its withering brand value
• Absolutely nothing posted on
Facebook or Twitter

8. Learnings
• Goldman Sachs was perhaps
paralyzed with fear amidst all
the hate comments (Particularly
the Anti-Semitic ones)
• Moderators must be pro-active
in taking down such racially
abusive posts
• Put up “House Rules” on the
page
• Doing nothing just allows for
lies and abuses about your
company to circulate on
Facebook
• They must contact Facebook to
reclaim their page, and start
rebuilding

9. What went wrong ?
• Wal-Mart started with intent to post content and for followers to
discuss and communicate about it
• Wal-Mart decided to restrict comments and feedback on its
Facebook page to “Wall Posts” - Not a great public image , feared
that Facebook could bring upon countless negative comments
• No 2-way communication
• Wal-Mart limited user content - demeaned the whole point of
creating a Facebook page

10. • Lack of interactivity – became just another place for Wal-Mart to
advertise
• Didn't listen to potential customers
• Bloggers took notice of this lack of conversation and soon a flood of
anti-Wal-Mart comments appeared on the wall posts.
• Shut in less than 3 months

12. Social Media Failure
STARBUCKS

13. • Starbucks India quickly
deleted a post made by an
angry customer Armaan
Kapur on Facebook page
• Posted by him on Starbucks
and Starbucks
India Facebook pages on
7th February, 2013
– post triggered 5,100+ likes,
250+ comments in a few
hours
• Post removed by both
Starbucks and Starbucks
India
– it was getting more
attention than their regular
updates
– This triggered a viral rage
on Facebook & Twitter

14. • @ArmaanKapur
tweeted a
screenshot of his
post on Starbucks
India’s Facebook
wall
• got him more
attention from
Twitterati resulting
in further damage of
Starbucks’ image

15. • Starbucks, which just established its presence in India
had a great opportunity to show people that they don’t
just claim to sell the best coffee in the world but also
offers best customer service – even on Social Media
• The Best Way Starbucks Could Have Handled This:
– By NOT deleting the post without addressing it
– By responding to the post immediately and assuring a
response in the public eye
– By taking a call personally / offline with customer and
solve the issue amicably, requesting him to remove the
post himself

17. The Brand has deleted the image as well as all the posts from Facebook

18. After a long time the company finally comes out with a response

19. Learning's
• Don’t react quickly to haters without thinking of the impact it
will have
• Never delete customer comment. It only adds fuel to the fire
• Allow your fans to fight your battles
• Never lose an opportunity to try and convert a hater

20. All is not lost
The response
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Bpy75q2DDow

21. 5 Reasons why it was a success
• Recognizing an opportunity
• Timely response – 8 Days
• Self-aware – Able to make fun of themselves
• Funny – Humor and the use of cats
• Bold – Go big or go home

22. THANK YOU!!!