Social Media Fail: Warner Music Don’t Get It (Again)

“Suspicion is a heavy armour and with its weight it impedes more than it protects.” (Robert Burns)

The very best marketing is word of mouth marketing. This was reinforced in November 2008, when – despite significant investment in holiday advertising – a RAMA/BIGresearch retail study found that word of mouth continues to be the biggest influencer of clothing and electronics purchases. Number two is product reviews: increasingly also dominated by peer contributions through social media sites like fast-growing Qype.com and TrustedPlaces.com. 

Social media is something you can influence but not control. Users can post reviews and comments whether businesses like it or not. We’re not using brands’ own websites any more: we’re posting on neutral social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and TripAdvisor in our millions.

Social Media aware companies like Dell have recognised that they can build brand capital by actively participating and harnessing goodwill. One of Dell’s niche Facebook pages saw a debate over their customer service, watched by over 10,000 Facebook users.

Entitled “Dell’s horrible customer service“, Cory Michael Jeter complained that his “computer became severely infected with viruses, spyware, malware, and any other ware you could think of…. [Dell]  tell me I have to pay an additional amount to get my problem corrected, because I didn’t pay extra for the online service fee“.  

Post number 2 was from Robert Peek from Dell, offering to immediately look into the problem. But, even more exciting, were posts number 3,4,5 and 6: defending Dell, its use of social media, its customer support and suggesting the blame lay with the original poster. “They are reliable and consistent“. “The CUSTOMER SERVICE is Top Notch“. “I have had good luck at everything I buy from Dell“. “Stay off sites you know you shouldn’t be going to :)“. Not all comments were positive, but early engagement can only have been positive for Dell. 

Warner Music, on the other hand, appears to believe its customers – “fans” in social media speak – are out to rob them of their assets and abuse their relationship with the media company. 

Warner has instructed YouTube to remove thousands of amateur videos which include their music, including music from artists like Madonna and Eric Clapton. They claim their dispute is with YouTube, and that its owner Google should be paying them revenues. Recent talks to negotiate royalties failed.

Warner may have a case, but their action misunderstands social media. The content is uploaded by consumers, not by YouTube staff. In the creative process, consumers – both uploaders and viewers – feel ownership of the site in a relationship that is difficult for traditional brands to create. Nielsen research suggests only 14% of people trust messages from brands; over 75% trust messages from peers. 

Was 15 year old Juliet Weybret being evil in singing “Winter Wonderland” to an appreciative audience? Was she damaging Warner’s property or future revenue stream? Or was she raising awareness of (advertising) a track with a young, cash-rich audience?

In short, Warner might feel it’s fighting another corporate. In fact, by screwing with social media, it’s fighting its target market.

And the consumers fight back. Here’s an original composition by Juliet. We think it’s rather better than Winter Wonderland. Why not share the link with some friends?

[youtube:http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=NYMdJR-B2uo]

It raises the bigger question: do we really need record labels in a Web 2.0 world, where artists can reach their audience directly? Warner claim to add value: what exactly is that value?

Related posts:

1. Are You Too Boring For Social Media? The oft-quoted examples of social media tend to be at...
2. Social Networks are for People, Not Brands From Steve Rubel’s Posterous blog, in describing the success, or...
3. Who Should Lead Social Media in an Organisation? There is a useful blog from Dr. Natalie Petouhoff which...
4. 3 Successful Small Businesses on Social Media Love this blog post on Penn Olson’s web site...
5. Facebookers Defect to Multiply? Social Media Sites To Watch You’ve probably heard of the exponential user growth of both...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.