In Africa, the image of a group of (usually men) sitting under a tree talking is fairly common.  In fact, many villages had a ‘the tree’ where people met to have informal meetings or just impromptu ones.  If you were new in the village, you made stopping by the tree one of your priorities (unless there was an invitation only meeting happening). When formal [read Western] education was introduced, it also happened under a tree. At least until the classrooms were put up.

We have new trees in Africa now. They are of a genus like none our parents ever did see. They are called Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, MySpace, FriendFeed….need I go on? We meet under these giant trees to connect with each other, build relationships, learn from each other, rally behind causes and so much more. Much more than the old tree could help us do.

I’m under the Twitter tree as @muchiri, the Facebook tree as facebook.com/muchiri and under the LinkedIn tree as linkedin.com/in/muchiri

Come to the tree. Let’s talk. Let’s connect. Let’s learn.

Originally posted at This, That & The Other a few hours ago.

Clay Shirky in his latest post ‘The Collapse of Complex Business Models’ makes a statement I find very important for businesses seeking to keep their audience engaged on the web.

“When ecosystems change and inflexible institutions collapse, their members disperse, abandoning old beliefs, trying new things, making their living in different ways than they used to.”  He describes these ecosystems as complex systems where the system’s principals assume that complexity is an automatic advantage.  It’s a post that’s got me considering how I go about doing business.

Complex systems collapse and when they do, they collapse into simplicity.  Clay speaks of some heavy stuff here so it seems really trivial to bring just one simple thought into this and yet it is the one thing that occurred to me.  How complex are the ecosystems we attempt to build around our client’s brands?  It could be as simple as site navigation or account security or even integration with various social media APIs (ok, maybe that last one isn’t so simple).

Visitors to websites are already inundated with a multitude of options online. Once they arrive at a space prepared for them, they shouldn’t have to continue sifting and figuring stuff out.  If they do, they will eventually disperse, abandoning the brand’s online space (probably off-line too) to try a new thing (read competitor).  Simple is the new black.

Is simplicity top of mind for your business?

‘…and we can get you on Facebook because social media is big right now!’

That’s some scary advise.  But many organisations hear it all the time from their agencies when talking about marketing or website design.  No strategy, no governance, just multiple channels where the staff can put out great information about the company and its products. Yippee!

Balderdash! I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s what happened at Nestlé, although I choose to believe they went about it a bit more deliberately (being a multi-national and all).  The signs are there to show they have issues with their web governance structures. When their Facebook admin took on some fans in what became a very public and embarrassing spat, a very distressing sign became evident.

Why does Nestlé have a Facebook page? What was the rationale behind it? Did they (or do they) have an end-game for it all?  It would appear that they haven’t bought into the whole idea of social media completely.  By the way they handled the outrage on Facebook and YouTube, it is clear that the ‘social’ part of the media is lost on them.  Their Facebook page admin was rude to fans and their request for the removal from YouTube of Greenpeace’s KitKat video irritating.

What’s the lesson for business?  Here are a few.

1. Conversations about your brand are happening with or without you.  Nestle were not the ones who started the Kit Kat conversation on YouTube.  And they weren’t sent an invite either.  The public is having conversations about and around your brand in highly collaborative spaces like YouTube and Facebook.  Are you an oblivious subject? The ability to listen to conversations that affect your brand is a necessity in this day and age. The wisdom to decide which conversations to contribute to and how is imperative for brand survival.
2. You don’t own the conversation.  Nestle’s Facebook admin indicated that the company owns the page and creates the rules for engagement on that page.  Fans have to obey the rules or leave.  The thing is, the conversations crossed over from Twitter, YouTube, blogs and email.  This conversation was happening outside of that page on the public’s terms.  Facebook is not your blog. It’s a cocktail party and you’re working the room. What people wear to the room is a trivial matter. Are you contributing constructively to the conversation? Are you hang up on the hairstyles in the room? You don’t own the conversation and if you can’t contribute constructively you will be tuned out.
3. Establish and enforce web governance.  The decision to take down the YouTube video was made by Nestlé UK.  Did Nestle in Switzerland know the decision had been made and was being effected?  Who would negative sentiments be escalated to? The Facebook admin posted a status that some fans took exception to.  Who approved it? Who provided the guidelines for what the admin can or cannot say to the public in that space?  I’m not suggesting that such strict measures be put in place so as to stifle the company’s engagement on the social media front.  But I do think it should be clear how content (especially in times of crisis) gets approved and what the organisation expects from content posted on the different channels.
4. Prepare for disasters.  Bad publicity is a disaster.  Prepare for it they way you do for fires.  Do a drill, establish procedures and educate your staff about them.  What do we do when Greenpeace hijack our Twitter conversations? What do we do when our Facebook admin tells fans off? What do we do when our blog is accidentally redirected to a porn site (if that’s a disaster for your brand)?
5. Remember the point.  There’s a reason you decided to do this in the first place.  What was it? Keep it top-of-mind.  When things go south, at least you will have a clear picture of the bigger picture and how this affects the business goal your social media presence was aligned to.

Did Nestle drop the ball on the social media front? Could they have handled the whole thing better? I think ‘yes’ on both counts.  But then again, few businesses set out build communications channels for engaging consumers whilst planning what to do when activists hijack them.

What do you think Nestle could have done better? How can they salvage this?

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