Misdirected Red Cross Tweet Turns into Social Media Lesson

Recently I’ve had several conversations about the importance of being authentic and using your natural voice to engage with your friends or customers on social media platforms. I know that’s not exactly earth-shattering news or a new conversation at all, but a few people had not been following the example that I cited from the American Red Cross. Here’s a brief summary of the events.

On February 15 at 11:24 p.m., Gloria Huang, Social Media Specialist for the American Red Cross thought she was tweeting to her personal Twitter account. Instead the message, “Ryan found two more 4 bottle packs of Dogfish Head’s Midas Touch beer…when we drink we do it right #gettngslizzerd,” was tweeted out to all of the Red Cross’ 200,000 plus Twitter followers. Anyone who uses a tool like Tweetdeck or Hootsuite (like Gloria was) to manage their personal and corporate social media accounts knows how easily this could happen simply by selecting the wrong account icon.

Within an hour the offending tweet had been deleted and Wendy Harman, Social Media Director for the Red Cross provided this response on Twitter: “We’ve deleted the rogue tweet but rest assured the Red Cross is sober and we’ve confiscated the keys.”

Harmon expanded her response on the Red Cross Blog. “In the meantime we found so many of you to be sympathetic and understanding.  While we’re a 130-year-old humanitarian organization, we’re also made of up human beings. Thanks for not only getting that but for turning our faux pas into something good,” she wrote. “You immediately embraced this mix-up and many of you have pledged donations to the Red Cross.”

While there may have been a few nasty replies to the error, the majority of responses were positive and supporting of Huang and the organization. Yes, she kept her job. By being open, human and consistently providing value through their social media outlets, the American Red Cross had built up considerable social capital with their followers.

That support quickly carried over to real life blood donations and support from HootSuite, Dogfish Beer and their fans.

Upcoming Webinars Reveal Consumer Trends in Retail, Mobile Use

The Delvinia Dig Webinar series returns in March with two presentations.

The first, being held on March 10, is based on the data presented in the Dig Report entitled, The Social Shopper: A Lens into the Future of Retail Experiences.

The Internet and social media have created a landscape where consumers are a more significant force than ever before. And, digitally-savvy shoppers are leading the way.

Our study around consumer use of digital technology—conducted through AskingCanadians™—reveals that digital experiences are not only a key component in the purchase process; but digitally-inclined shoppers are fast becoming the consumers of the future.

Delvinia President Steve Mast will reveal further insights into the digital behaviours of consumers in this webinar, which gets under way at 2 p.m. To register, visit https://delviniainter.webex.com/delviniainter/onstage/g.php?t=a&d=933639922.

The Reality of Mobile in Canada

The second webinar, to be held on March 24, is an updated presentation outlining the reality of mobile use in Canada. Based on data collected in December, the presentation builds upon the April 2010 Dig report entitled, Managing the Hype: The Reality of Mobile in Canada.

Delvinia President Steve Mast will outline the following trends in relation to the ways Canadians are using their mobile devices: Smartphone ownership and usage, GPS awareness and usage, Mobile Apps (type and usage), Mobile camera (high usage, lower sharing) and Mobile games (usage).

The webinar begins at 2 p.m. To register, visit https://delviniainter.webex.com/delviniainter/onstage/g.php?t=a&d=661639179.

Delvinia Releases Dig Report on the Social Shopper

Understanding how consumers incorporate digital technology into the retail experience is the focus of the latest Delvinia Dig report, being released today.

The Social Shopper: A Lens into the Future of Retail Experiences highlights seven major trends around the use of digital technology in the purchase process and examines what retailers and product manufacturers should be doing to court digitally-savvy shoppers.

“As we all know, the Internet and social media have created a landscape where consumers are a more significant force than ever before,” says Delvinia C.E.O. Adam Froman. “As part of our culture to play, learn and grow, we wanted to better understand the consumer-retailer relationship so we asked ourselves: How can retailers and manufacturers leverage digital media to create effective customer experiences?”

While it remains true that digital behaviours vary from product to product, and from person to person, the data provides the following insights into consumer behaviour:

- Sixty-one per cent of shoppers surveyed research products online prior to making a purchase. And, they do so at least 50 per cent of the time.

- Sixty-five per cent of Canadian shoppers look for consumer reviews and recommendations while researching online, this is second only to price.

- One in five Canadian smartphone owners use their phones to search for product recommendations while shopping.

- One third of smartphone owners have used their phones to take pictures of a product while shopping.

“This report provides a perspective for retailers to look at their customers in a new way,” Froman says, adding, “We conduct these proprietary surveys as part of our ongoing effort to understand the digital behaviours of Canadians. This report, along with our other profiling data, is the foundation of our unique approach to developing effective digital customer experiences.”

To download the complete Delvinia Dig report on the consumer use of digital technology and the future of retail experiences, visit www.delvinia.com/digreport/.

A webinar based on this report will be held at 2 p.m. on March 10. To register, visit https://delviniainter.webex.com/delviniainter/onstage/g.php?t=a&d=933639922.

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