Comments on: Social Media and Product Survival

By: Sue Rostvold

Sue Rostvold — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 04:31:19 +0000

I hadn’t hear that one before, the comment about there being a lot of money to be made by opening Twitter rehab facilities. Good one.

Regarding Arm & Hammer Essentials, it actually looks pretty cool. I’m going to look for it next time I need a cleaning product. I’m curious that I hadn’t heard of it before though. Seems like they could do a better job on twitter getting the word out.

BTW: The video you embedded isn’t working on your site or on their site at the moment.

By: Katie

Katie — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 17:06:30 +0000

That really looks like the Twitter explanation video and a few others I have seen online? What’s up with the white board and old fashioned drawings? Simple yet effective, I suppose. Glad it’s eco friendly, but my question: Are they really considering pulling it from the shelves or is that just a marketing tactic? I’m thinking the latter.

Great example of a company using social media to market a product!

By: Global Patriot

Global Patriot — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 22:12:12 +0000

Kimberly, tis sad that it took climate change and a total meltdown of the auto industry to get GM’s attention, but that’s the struggle between short term profits and long term solutions. We’ll see if the next four years result in a change in corporate consciousness.

Beth, as powerful as viral is, you’re right that it is difficult to get a message read and acted upon my a large number of people, and as traffic on social media continues to rise, it won’t get any easier. That said, it’s still important for corporations to understand the new methods of conversation and, hopefully, make more meaningful connections with their consumers.

By: Beth from Avenue Z

Beth from Avenue Z — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 21:11:23 +0000

Mr. Patriot, sir…. interesting find with this greenroots campaign. I, too, find social media an intriguing experiment. We’ve all been amazed at the rapid spread of a buzz word or blog post or video (like the guy singing “Goodnight, Sweetheart” to the puppies. See that one?). It can and does happen every day.

But the big “but” here is … thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of important messages now flood our social media outlets. I recently ran a Virtual Food Drive, and I guessed that perhaps a quarter million Tweets went out through Twitter (my math was *very* rough, but the word did spread). My drive asked people to “give where they live” and stop by my blog to comment and be counted.

With perhaps 250,000 messages, what might one estimate as the response rate? I think the final count was about 55 strangers who committed. The rest of the contributors were my friends, clients and family. If you do more (questionable) math, that is a .022 percent return rate.

Clearly I viewed the Virtual Food Drive as a success, since (be careful — more Math by Beth to follow) I ended up doubling my original goal of 1 ton of donations. But my point is that my Virtual Food Drive message was competing with dozens of “Please HELP” and “Worthy Cause!” messages in my own modest little social media network.

So, these dedicated A&H Essentials advocates may have heart, but they’re a long way from being able to enact real change through social networks. There’s just too much competition. Even a chronic do-gooder like myself has to pick and choose what urgent causes to support, and I’m afraid this campaign isn’t one of them. (But that doesn’t mean I don’t wish them luck.)

By: Kimberly Bock

Kimberly Bock — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 18:55:53 +0000

I thought of GM also. I recently saw the movie about the EV’s & I was thinking, “If only they realized the growth potential, even if they would have to accept temporary loss”..Once people saw the reliability of the car, the environmental benefits to be experienced by their children & childrens children it would amount to monetary gain AND provisions needed for our future!

@Keane Yup, believe it or not, it’s a worthy product.

By: Keane

Keane — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 21:07:45 +0000

Thanks for taking notice. A couple of us took this on totally on our own accord- sending out a few tweets throughout the work day, working on a blog post every now and then etc… Have you tried the product yourself?

By: Global Patriot

Global Patriot — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 16:36:50 +0000

Thanks for the comment, Regina. I would also like to know the level of commitment that Arm & Hammer has for supporting sustainable products. If you ever watched “Who Killed the Electric Car” it was obvious that GM didn’t have much of a commitment and that attitude has now come back to haunt them.

It’s my feeling that companies should have a 3-5 year time frame for introducing and supporting a new generation of products that are more respectful of the planet. We can’t solve issues such as sustainability and climate change on a quarter-by-quarter basis.

By: Regina

Regina — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 16:11:39 +0000

First, Thanks for the link to A&H’s blog! I hope you won’t mind if I cross post this comment.

On the suggestion of @Greenbehavior, I am posting the same comment as I place on their blog at http://green-behavior.com/green-organic-products/arm-hammer-essentials-green-cleaning.htm

“I have a theory on why this product might not be doing so well…It has to do with companies that only stick their nose into the environmental market instead of jumping in full force because it’s good for our world. Proof of a commitment, might bring a following…It seems like A&H wouldn’t have that far to go to be green all the way through. my 2 cents, R” Posted Dec, 23, 2008