Do Good and They'll Love You. Slip Up...Well, Brace Yourself for the Social Media Whooping

I ran across an interesting article that tied perfectly with what I discovered from my research for the brand comparison paper in marketing class. The article highlighted the annual Corporate Social Responsibility Study conducted by Cone Communications/Echo. This study indicated that people care tremendously about the actions of corporations. A staggering 91% of global consumer are likely to switch brands to one associated with a good cause, given comparable price and quality.  The study which included 10,000 people in the U.S, U.K., Canada, Brazil, Germany, France, Russia, China, India and Japan, indicates companies are being held accountable by their customers publicly via social channels.

“Social media is transforming the CSR landscape, especially in countries such as China, India and Brazil, where more than eight-in-10 consumers are using social channels to engage with companies around social and environmental issues. Citizens are universally taking to social channels to learn more about issues, share positive and negative information and influence their personal networks.”

Among the findings from the  excerpt above, the study also included these key indicators of favoritism amongst consumers for corporate accountability:

• 90% of people worldwide said they would boycott a brand for irresponsible behavior.

• 91%of global consumers are likely to switch brands to one associated with a good cause, given comparable price and quality. 

• Nine-in-10 consumers feel a responsibility to purchase products they think are socially and environmentally responsible. 

• 31% of global consumers believe businesses should change the way they operate to align with greater social and environmental needs. 

• Just 6% of consumers believe the singular purpose of business is to make money for shareholders.

• 85% of people say it’s okay if a company is not perfect, as long as it is honest about its efforts.

• Americans are nearly twice as likely as their global peers to want companies to focus on making donations.

For my brand comparison paper, I compared GEICO's and Progressive's social media strategies and found that Progressive had made a grave mistake that landed GEICO as the clear winner. The social media rage against the company began in 2012 after a blogger named Matt Fisher took to his Tumblr page to complain about the way Progressive treated his family as they sought to collect on his deceased sister's insurance policy.  The story went viral and people took to Twitter to threaten to switch their insurance from Progressive in an act of outrage and sympathy for Mr.Fisher's circumstances.

Progressive inspired even more outrage by responding to enraged customers with over and over with a generic statement expressing their lamentations.

Progressive's PR scandal through social media escalated to levels no one could have predicted. The lesson learned from the study above and the real life example provided by Progressive is that businesses need to be sharply aware of the fact that their customers will be quick to react if they are perceived as doing something that is socially irresponsible. On the other end of the spectrum, businesses that are doing great things in their communities should leverage social media to make a positive emotional connection with their customers. If you sponsoring a community even or doing a good deed for instance, tweet about it, post pictures on Facebook and Instagram! This is a great way to build a bond with your customers which is the one of ultimate goal of social media marketing.