Social Media Fails

To conclude this blog, it seems only appropriate to discuss how it is important to understand the power social media has over a company or organization. During the last week of class, we saw how several social media scandals resulted in social media “fails.” From the HMV employee strike take over to the #McDHorrorStories, social media has become a powerful tool which can cause harm to company if they are not careful.

For example, in HMV’s case, an employee who had formally worked on the company’s social media account (Twitter) showed how, when companies are not aware of their own social media impact, it can lead to their downfall by live tweeting the mass firing HMV was conducting at that time.

Similarly, McDonalds released the hastag #mcdstories where customers were able to tweet their McDonalds stories. The goal was to encourage people to share child hood memories or emotional stories with the rest of the community. Unfortunately, the hashtag stopped being used by McDonalds two hours after they began circulation because customers were sharing their McDonald’s horror stories rather than positive stories.

Both these examples go to show how social media is important in the overall image of the company. In both HMV and McDonalds, social media scandals were produced because of negative employee and customer feedback due to lack of attention to social media outlets.

Gamification

As previously discussed, virtual worlds are now becoming more popular and businesses are beginning to use virtual worlds to their advantage. However, another technique which has been taking place is that of Gamification. Gamification is the process whereby a game is used for a non-game context. This concept is becoming increasingly popular in terms of organizations and their promotional techniques.

 One of the most common Gamification techniques seen by a business is Tim Horton’s annual “Roll Up the Rim” contest whereby customers have the chance to roll up their coffee rim and win prizes. This game has become one of the most anticipated annual promotions around Canada.

I think that Gamification works, in this case, because consumers are given an opportunity to win something with a greater value than what they purchased. This is a smart strategy for Tim Hortons because they are further engaging their consumers from being coffee drinkers to invested players. 

Gamification can also be seen in a number of different situations such as through apps (Foursquare) and video games (Guitar Hero). Overall, it is a tool for customer engagement and what I believe to be one of the most effective engagement techniques.