Will Nestlé Ever Reclaim its Facebook Page from Protesters?
It may prove to be the most successful social media influence campaign yet: Greenpeace and its supporters invaded Nestlé’s Facebook page last week, posting thousands of attack messages charging that every KitKat candy bar Nestlé makes threatens the habitat of orangutans and other threatened rainforest species.
Feeling outgunned and completely unprepared, the confectioner went on the counter attack, firing off a cease-and-desist “no logo” edict to all Facebook users, insulting random fans, deleting any threatening wall posts, and then it apologized for it all.
Even more remarkable than this apology, it appears Nestlé has now abandoned the Facebook page all together, allowing the conquistadors to continue to hurl mud at Nestlé without interruption. It’s the virtual equivalent of a sit-in protest. Lost in all the mud-slinging and finger-pointing is news that Nestlé has made a remarkable about-face. In a clarifying statement, it says it will no longer do business with Sinar Mas, the Indonesian forestry company Greenpeace accuses of mowing down rainforests and peatlands and replacing them with palm oil plantations.
And the response from eco-activists? They’ve completely missed it, or worse, they don’t care. “Hi Nestle! How much rainforest did you destroy today? Keep up the good work Greenpeace,” is the lead comment on the Facebook wall this evening.
It should come as no surprise that the activist community is using social media to forward their agenda. There is plenty of precedent. Two years ago, for example, Rainforest Action Network members flooded onto the open comments area of General Motors’ site GMNext questioning its commitment to the environment. GM responded at first by deleting the critical comments, but then agreed to meet with its accusers in a series of one-on-one interviews, winning some grudging props from its biggest accusers. “This is a great chance to speak directly to a major corporate executive,” RAN later told its members.
And what has Nestlé earned for its decision to heed its accusers? Its Facebook fan page is now in the hands of its biggest critics who are calling for a boycott of Nestlé products. And, halfway across the world, Indonesian palm oil planters are threatening to boycott Nestlé as well for cutting ties. Meanwhile, Greenpeace looks like a genius for taking the attack to Nestlé on its home turf, drawing into the fray Nestlé’s 90,000-plus fans.
This whole episode will be a tactic studied in business schools, or at least ought to be: how activists use a brand’s social media presence against it, pressuring it into an about-face. And the lessons learned? Follow the GM line and invite your critics to engage in a more civil debate, is the first step. And, whatever you do, don’t insult your fans and then abandon them.
Editor’s note: Come here the major brands discuss their successful social media strategies at the Social Media Influence conference (June 22nd in London). Speakers include PepsiCo, Starbucks, Dell, Sony, Dachis Group and many others.
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SMI blog post: Will Nestlé Ever Reclaim its Facebook Page from Protesters? http://bit.ly/9aDEZs
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Will Nestlé Ever Reclaim its Facebook Page from Protesters? http://bit.ly/csOTaU
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Great analysis of Nestle from Bernhard RT @socialinfluence: Will Nestlé Ever Reclaim its Facebook Page from Protesters? http://bit.ly/9aDEZs
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Social Media Influence: Social Media News & Intellegence » Will …: It may prove to be the most successful social… http://bit.ly/bGfmZr
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Social Media Influence: Social Media News & Intellegence » Will … http://bit.ly/cFYFTi
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Nestlé protesters make themselves comfortable: http://ow.ly/1qtTHe – interesting to watch the saga unfold, lots to learn here
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Nestle’s Facebook battle with protestors–news item: http://bit.ly/ah8eny
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Will Nestlé Ever Reclaim its Facebook Page from Protesters? http://goo.gl/9zcQ
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Will Nestlé Ever Reclaim its Facebook Page from Protesters? http://bit.ly/cQSWnD
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More Nestle bruhaha RT @gsport_ebiz: Nestle’s Facebook battle with protestors–news item: http://bit.ly/ah8eny
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[...] open-mouthed horror. At the time of going to press, Nestle’s Facebook page was best described as a sit-in – and this painful episode can’t fail to spotlight the huge variation in the quality of brands’ [...]
Will #Nestle ever reclaim it’s Facebook page [Article] http://bit.ly/9Zmcqg < Doesn’t look like it so far! [Nestle FB] http://bit.ly/b2JWQ6
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Will Nestlé Ever Reclaim its Facebook Page from Protesters? http://bit.ly/bZEw0G via @AddToAny
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[...] many companies have a knee-jerk reaction to negative posts. Remember the Nestle fiasco back in March? The confectioner simply started deleting negative posts by Greenpeace and directly [...]
[...] customer posts on company Facebook pages has become something of a taboo. Just consider Nestlé’s predicament back in March when it was accused of silencing critics for deleting angry Greenpeace posts from its [...]
[...] on its wall posts and then bizarrely enough reacted to them rudely, where they had to eventually apologise for being rude. It was a total [...]
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