Five WINs, five FAILs and five considerations to cope with social media.

1. Ten stories to understand how
to promote, defend or jeopardize
one’s reputation online
Five WINs, five FAILs and five considerations
to cope with social media
february 2015

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Ten stories to understand how to promote, defend or jeopardize one’s reputation online
Who we are #1
My name’s Dino Amenduni
Twitter @doonie
e-mail dino.amenduni@proformaweb.it
all the rest about.me/dinoamenduni
I’m a partner, a political communicator
and head of social media communication
at Proforma Agency in Bari (www.proformaweb.it)
I’m also a contributor and blogger for Finegil-Espresso Group,
I also teach (political communication and social media marketing)
All my slide presentations are available for free
(for reference and download) at the following address:
www.slideshare.net/doonie

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Ten stories to understand how to promote, defend or jeopardize one’s reputation online
Who we are #2
My name’s Daniele Magliocca
Twitter @viralmente
e-mail daniele.magliocca@proformaweb.it
I deal with media planning and social media management
at Proforma Agency in Bari (www.proformaweb.it)
For the past few years I have been running
a blog (www.viralmente.blogspot.it)
and a facebook page (www.facebook.com/viralmente)
dealing with the world of non-conventional communication

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Ten stories to understand how to promote, defend or jeopardize one’s reputation online
summary
THE “WINs”
1. CIA’s first tweet
2. Ryanair’s “optional “ wings
3. Aurelio De Laurentis live on twitter
4. “House of Cards”: a truly authentic web-like TV series
5. Oreo’s biscuit and the birth of real-time marketing
THE “FAILs”
1. The use of hashtags depends on the users: the Trenitalia case
2. When “real time” goes beyond the limit: Groupalia and the earthquake
3. Cancelling a mistake is not enough: a Sanremo tweet
4. The not very tempting Algida ice-cream for March 8th
5. Selfie with Samsung, real life with iPhone: the 2014 Oscars
Ten stories, ten starting points

5. Ten stories to understand how to promote, defend or jeopardize one’s reputation online
WIN 1
I can neither confirm
nor deny
CIA’s first tweet:
how to turn around a problem
of one’s reputation by taking
the mickey out of oneself

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Ten stories to understand how to promote, defend or jeopardize one’s reputation online
1. I can neither confirm nor deny
CIA’s first tweet (June 6, 2014)
hwas so successful that their Twitter account went over 300 thousand
followers in the first few hours after its opening.
(find out more here)

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Ten stories to understand how to promote, defend or jeopardize one’s reputation online
What we can learn from this story
1. It’s useless to pretend one doesn’t have a public
reputation (whether positive or negative) partly
because omitting to admit up to this would anyway
be “punished” by the subsequent disclosure of truth,
especially online.
In this situation, one might just as well take one’s
own reputation directly into one’s own hands,
rather than letting others create it.
1. I can neither confirm nor deny

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Ten stories to understand how to promote, defend or jeopardize one’s reputation online
What we can learn from this story
2. When one is afraid of what others think of you
(and CIA was almost certain to have problems of this
kind on Twitter) it’s wiser to take the first move:
that tweet could have been used by the followers as an
ironic reply to a more “institutional “ tweet by CIA and
would have produced a completely different effect.
1. I can neither confirm nor deny

9. Ten stories to understand how to promote, defend or jeopardize one’s reputation online
WIN 2
Ryanair
forgets its wings
An almost unique example
of effective online
crisis management

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Ten stories to understand how to promote, defend or jeopardize one’s reputation online
2. Ryanair forgets its wings
On January 30, 2015 a passenger takes
a snapshot of Ryanair ground crew drawing
a huge phallus on the snowy runway.
In a few hours the photo goes viral.
The crisis is solved by a spokesman’s statement:
“While our ground crew excel at industry
leading 25 minute turnarounds, art isn’t their
forte, as they’ve clearly forgotten to draw
wings on their snow airplane”.
(find out more here)

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Ten stories to understand how to promote, defend or jeopardize one’s reputation online
What we can learn from this story
1. In communication timing is (sometimes)
more important than content.
If Ryanair hadn’t replied within the 24-36 hours
of the publication of this snapshot, only the first
news would have appeared in the media
(with a resulting damage to its reputation)
and not the reply (which saved its reputation).
2. Ryanair forgets its wings

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Ten stories to understand how to promote, defend or jeopardize one’s reputation online
What we can learn from this story
2. The tone of the reply defines the company
identity (and vice versa).
Ryanair’s attitude is thoroughly coherent with
its overall communication tone based on a
constant emphasis of the company’s strong
points and on a slight aggressiveness.
In this case, self-irony is more effective since
it is coherent with Ryanair’s attitude and style
over the years.
2. Ryanair forgets its wings

13. Ten stories to understand how to promote, defend or jeopardize one’s reputation online
WIN 3
The importance of getting involved
when defining a brand
#askADL:
the live Twitter conversations between
the president of the Napoli football club
and its supporters

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Ten stories to understand how to promote, defend or jeopardize one’s reputation online
3.The importance of getting involved
when defining a brand
Aurelio De Laurentiis
replied non-stop for four hours to the
questions asked by the supporters of
the Napoli football club live on Twitter,
introduced by #AskADL.
The users’ reaction was instantaneous,
nor did it fall short of expectations: tens
of re-tweets showed that the initiative
had been highly appreciated.
(find out more here)

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Ten stories to understand how to promote, defend or jeopardize one’s reputation online
What we can learn from this story
1. If you consider users as mere recipients
you automatically lose an increasing important
component in the building up of a brand:
the followers’ enthusiasm.
Ignoring your users’ comments means one
voluntarily loses a vital source of knowledge and
joint-building up (or destruction) of reputation.
3.The importance of getting involved
when defining a brand

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Ten stories to understand how to promote, defend or jeopardize one’s reputation online
What we can learn from this story
2. Any member of the organization can contribute
to the building up of a digital reputation.
The president of the Napoli football club not only
had the courage to make his opinion public,
but also (and above all) created a digital image
of his club: fast, accessible, interactive.
3.The importance of getting involved
when defining a brand

17. Ten stories to understand how to promote, defend or jeopardize one’s reputation online
WIN 4
House of Cards:
no distinction between
communication and screenplay
The social media of a TV series
become part and parcel of the story

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Ten stories to understand how to promote, defend or jeopardize one’s reputation online
4. House of Cards, airing H24
On the House of Cards Facebook page
you can find posts with fake newspaper articles
to revamp the stories told in the series: therefore
there is no real separation between the product
and its communication.

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Ten stories to understand how to promote, defend or jeopardize one’s reputation online
What we can learn from this story
1. There are some products or services requiring
non-stop communication which perfectly
complements what is “sold”.
This means that, in such cases, social media
contribute to building up a good reputation in
an even more significant way. On one condition,
though: communication and “art” must be built
simultaneously, they are not two separate phases.
.
4. House of Cards, airing H24

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Ten stories to understand how to promote, defend or jeopardize one’s reputation online
What we can learn from this story
2. Communication as screenplay: because social
media allow non-stop communication strategies,
they also allow one to adjust one’s choices
in real time on the basis of topicality and context
(eg: spoiler or online comments).
4. House of Cards, airing H24

21. Ten stories to understand how to promote, defend or jeopardize one’s reputation online
WIN 5
The happiness cookie
The Oreo case:
the birth of real-time marketing
and the transformation of the meaning
of “online communication”

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Ten stories to understand how to promote, defend or jeopardize one’s reputation online
5. The happiness cookie
Oreo exploited the opportunity offered
by the blackout during the 2013 Super
Bowl (something that never happened
before), publishing a post within an
incredible seven minutes that has forever
changed and redefined the rules of
online communication.
(find out more here)

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Ten stories to understand how to promote, defend or jeopardize one’s reputation online
5. The happiness cookie
What we can learn from this story
1. During major events with an exceptional media
impact companies have a unique opportunity to
show off exploiting their creativity since they have
a real life audience and not one they create in the
board room when preparing a marketing strategy.
Those who want to improve their digital reputation
cannot miss this kind of opportunity.

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Ten stories to understand how to promote, defend or jeopardize one’s reputation online
5. The happiness cookie
What we can learn from this story
2. Accepting this paradigm means completely
rewriting some traditional working rules:
if an organization wants to be “instant”,
its communicators must be equally “instant”,
ready to turn an unforeseen event into a great
success in a few minutes

25. Ten stories to understand how to promote, defend or jeopardize one’s reputation online
FAIL 1
Hashtags
are users’ property
Between the communication
choices and the users’ reaction
there is a variable R (reputation)
which influences the results

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Ten stories to understand how to promote, defend or jeopardize one’s reputation online
6. Hashtags are users’ property
Trenitalia launched #meetFS,
a campaign aiming at getting
Users involved.
The hashtag, however, has been
reversed by users who have adopted
it to point out and report the rail
company’s inefficiency
.
(find out more here)

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Ten stories to understand how to promote, defend or jeopardize one’s reputation online
6. Hashtags are users’ property
What we can learn from this story
2. If a company, especially one that has problems
of digital reputation, decides to launch an
online campaign and decides to do it using a
hashtag, the company communicators should
ask themselves the right question beforehand.
And the right question isn’t “What does the
Company want to communicate to the Users?”
but “What will the Users want to communicate
to the Company?”.

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Ten stories to understand how to promote, defend or jeopardize one’s reputation online
6. Hashtags are users’ property
What we can learn from this story
2. The dynamics of getting people involved are “safer”
if they are controlled within specific limits.
A campaign based on the recipients’ complete
freedom of expression will almost certainly mean
that the results are out of the creator’s control and
will totally depend on the community. This will lead
to a positive outcome only if the company already
enjoys a very good core reputation.

29. Ten stories to understand how to promote, defend or jeopardize one’s reputation online
FAIL 2
Real-time yes,
but not at any cost
There exists a limit beyond which
communication should never push itself:
the Groupalia case and the earthquake
in Emilia Romagna

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Ten stories to understand how to promote, defend or jeopardize one’s reputation online
7. Real-time yes, but not at any cost
Groupalia launched an instant
campaign using the hashtag #terremoto
(earthquake) that, at the moment of the
launch, was already being used to collect
information on the earthquake that had
struck the region of Emilia Romagna on
May 20, 2012, producing tens of tweets
per second.
The Groupalia Twitter account
immediately became the object of online
protest from hundreds of users.
(find out more here)

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Ten stories to understand how to promote, defend or jeopardize one’s reputation online
What we can learn from this story
1. Real-time marketing must be fitted into a
favourable surrounding context, in particular
one needs a positive “sentiment” towards the
event which is the object of communication.
Entering a flow of communication connected
to tragic events or events that cannot easily
be decoded by public opinion is tantamount
to profiteering and ruining one’s reputation.
7. Real-time yes, but not at any cost

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Ten stories to understand how to promote, defend or jeopardize one’s reputation online
What we can learn from this story
2. Even though real-time marketing prompts
organizations to rush in in order to better
exploit unique moments in the hope of
increasing their reputation, social media are
paradoxically communication places where
extreme prudence is required: just one wrong
tweet may compromise years of work.
7. Real-time yes, but not at any cost

33. Ten stories to understand how to promote, defend or jeopardize one’s reputation online
FAIL 3
Because Sanremo
is Sanremo
The magnitude of the negative
impact of an online mistake
is directly proportional
to the size of the audience facing you

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Ten stories to understand how to promote, defend or jeopardize one’s reputation online
8. Because Sanremo is Sanremo
At the end of the second evening of the
Festival di Sanremo, Carlo Conti mentioned
the migrants shipwrecked off the coasts
of Lampedusa.
The Festival Twitter account
simultaneously launched this tweet (“A hug
to the migrants lost at sea at Lampedusa”).
Although the tweet was immediately
removed, the negative effects it gave rise
to were not mitigated.
(find out more here)

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Ten stories to understand how to promote, defend or jeopardize one’s reputation online
What we can learn from this story
1. The more a brand is known, the more
the effects on its reputation will be amplified
n the case of a mistake on the social media.
The bigger the company, the less improvised
its digital communication can be (the company
cannot presume that its importance will shield
and protect it against media mistakes).
8. Because Sanremo is Sanremo

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Ten stories to understand how to promote, defend or jeopardize one’s reputation online
What we can learn from this story
1. Removing a mistake (even if done almost
immediately) without any formal follow up
(a correction, an apology, an official and timely
explanation of the event) will not reduce
its negative impact.
Most probably the opposite will happen
(Streisand effect).
8. Because Sanremo is Sanremo

37. Ten stories to understand how to promote, defend or jeopardize one’s reputation online
FAIL 4
When a photo
is s****y
Algida’s chocolate ice-cream
for March 8 (Women’s Day):
not too auspicious

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Ten stories to understand how to promote, defend or jeopardize one’s reputation online
9. When a photo is s****y
Algida offers “a chocolate rose to all women”
for Women’s Day (March 8, 2013).
The image immediately triggers the users’
reaction, they don’t exactly see a “rose” …
(find out more here)

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Ten stories to understand how to promote, defend or jeopardize one’s reputation online
9. When a photo is s****y
What we can learn from this story
1. Even though this may not always be possible,
it is advisable to publish something in social
media only after having it checked by several
people: a group check can help warn of potential
risks. It can definitely save the reputation of
those who, working alone, may incur in possible
communication mistakes.

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Ten stories to understand how to promote, defend or jeopardize one’s reputation online
9. When a photo is s****y
What we can learn from this story
2. There may be some circumstances when
a graphic design, even though more difficult
than a photograph, may prevent ambiguity
and being mis-interpreted.
The above-mentioned case seems to fit
perfectly with the sort of circumstance
we have been discussing.

41. Ten stories to understand how to promote, defend or jeopardize one’s reputation online
FAIL 5
One anchorwoman,
two competitors
Even the best ideas can slip
on a banana skin:
the case of the selfie
during the 2014 Oscar night

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Ten stories to understand how to promote, defend or jeopardize one’s reputation online
10. One anchorwoman, two competitors
During the 2014 Oscar night,
Ellen DeGeneres repeatedly used
a Samsung smart phone to take some
selfies with the public and then publish
them live on Twitter.
At first it seemed to be a great success:
one of the published photos was
the most re-twitted ever on Twitter.
Pity that users realized that backstage
Ellenn was using her own smartphone,
an iPhone.
(find out more here)

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Ten stories to understand how to promote, defend or jeopardize one’s reputation online
10. One anchorwoman, two competitors
What we can learn from this story
1. Storytelling, and the digital one even more so,
is based on a golden rule:
the coherence between the message
and real life (the speaker’s biography).
When there is no coherence, if the story being
told is fake, it will more easily be exposed.

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Ten stories to understand how to promote, defend or jeopardize one’s reputation online
10. One anchorwoman, two competitors
What we can learn from this story
2. Such a considerable investment on the part
of a company (as we guess Samsung’s must
have been in order to gain visibility at such an
important event) requires a very strict strategy,
with guarantees on the consistency between
message and biography not only during the
event but also (much) earlier and (much) later
than the event itself.
Example: Ellen should have started using
a Samsung smartphone many months
before the Oscar night.

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Ten stories to understand how to promote, defend or jeopardize one’s reputation online
to sum up
1. Self-irony is often an effective tool for managing one’s digital reputation,
both for those who have well known reputation problems and for those who
stumble upon communication mistakes.
2. All the members of an organization, from the head to the last employee,
contribute towards building up its reputation, especially after the large-scale
spreading of social media.
3. Real-time marketing = Say hello to well-established working hours
4. Before launching a hashtag, make sure the chosen one will not turn
into a boomerang for your communication (launching a hashtag
is not indispensable, among other things. The world will go on as usual).
5. “Errare social non est” (to err is not social). Social media management =
Chuck Palahniuk’s rule: “No matter how hard you work or how smart you
become. You’ll always be known for that one poor choice”.

46. Ten stories to understand how to promote, defend or jeopardize one’s reputation online
Learn all you can from
the mistakes of others.
You won’t have time
to make them all yourself.
(Alfred Sheinwold)
conclusion

47. Ten stories to understand how to promote, defend or jeopardize one’s reputation online
Thanks.

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