Skittles (www.skittles.com) is involved in some inspiring online marketing at the moment. They have been regularly dumping their website's home page and opening up to social media platforms. First their web site home page became a gateway to all the conversations about Skittles on Twitter; then the site linked up to their Facebook page and just recently it has linked to its wikipedia entry. This is bold stuff especially as it is showcasing activities which are unedited. The Twitter conversations contained swearing about Skittles when that version of the home page was running live.Some social media commentators have dismissed the work of Skittles as a shallow PR stunt designed to generate online buzz. I see their point. But it has got people really talking about Skittles and they are allowing their customers to do the talking. A lot of brand marketeers are realising that with the rise of social media they cannot hope to totally control their brands in a traditional sense. In this instance, Skittles has boldly given up control. It shows a confidence in themselves, their product and their customers. It also shows a clear recognition of the shift of power to consumers who are being emboldened and empowered by easily accessible and open social media technologies.Take a look and see what they are showcasing now. I like it because it underlines how current web site designs lack the dynamism and spontaneity of social media. I also like it because Skittles is making a connection with all of its customers who are using social media. Many companies are in denial about how their audiences are using social media or they can't see because of medieval firewall policies which will prevent digital natives from ever wanting to join their companies in the future.This is a smart marking move and full credit to Skittles. However for the business to take this further they need to have meaningful conversations with Skittles customers who are using social media and involve them in the development of their products going forward.
It is worth noting as well that Skittles is not the first brand to dabble in these kinds of tactics. Zappos has long had a twitter channel at twitter.zappos.com that shows tweets mentioning Zappos as well as the tweets of Zappos employees.
Brand marketers who read this and wonder how on earth they can manage their brands should start to monitor conversations about their brands and begin to join in conversations. Taking into account the etiquette of particular communities. They should also look for opportunities to use social media tools to invite comment and feedback from their customers. The longer they hesitate the more of a headstart bolder brands like Skittles have.
(www.itsopen.co.uk)
