Take Dry Max, the new version of Pampers; officially launched on March 1st in the US. This was billed as the “driest” nappy ever, and the advertising at launch was accompanied with the now familiar strategy of sending samples to bloggers, including Shopping Mama, in order to build grass-roots enthusiasm.

But things started to go wrong very shortly after the launch. Many “mamas” started to complain on social networks and review sites.  These complaints increased and now there is a Facebook page claiming children have suffered rashes, burns and the like. This page has over 6000 fans.

After the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CSPC) announced they would be looking into these complaints, Procter & Gamble immediately launched a full-scale counter offensive, citing what they described as “growing, but completely false rumours, fuelled by social media”.

Many loyal customers felt offended by the robust tone of P&G. They did not feel their voices were being heard. This only heightened the tension between the two parties.

Procter & Gamble knew it had to do more and simultaneously stepped up plans to engage with the online community.  Many bloggers, and key “influencers” within social media, have been invited to P&G’s headquarters, listening to staff discussing the R&D side of their work, and looking at prototypes of future products.

Digital marketing experts are trying to glean the lessons from this whole experience. The episode underlines the challenges for a process of product development that was developed “in a time when consumers did not have a voice, and there was no notion of consumer feedback, reviews and social media.”

Perhaps the lesson is, that if P&G had more consumers involved more intimately in the product development process, they would have been advocates for the product as it comes out. It is imperative now that consumer brands interact with the blogging community early on; certainly before events reach a crisis point.

Most people engage in social media with good intentions..they want to be heard. So I think the point for the brands is not to try to shut them down, but to listen and hear them.

Phrase for the day: “power mom” – bloggers, who are sought after by brands to test or comment upon new products…only in America!!

I can now update our blog, send tweets and update fb and Linkedin – all from my phone!

Modern smartphones are pretty much a small computer these days and will only get more powerful in my opinion.

Make sure your site is visible on a phone!

Lots of this stuff is still fairly new, so feel free to comment … we’d welcome your thoughts.

Click here to view the document social-media-introduction