They created videos to target new moms by speaking directly to them with catchy reasons why Motrin is such a great choice to help them get through their day. If only the videos could go “viral” then the world would be right. They had no idea what was about to happen.

The marketing campaign launched with the slogan: “Motrin. We feel your pain.” The video-based social media campaign was promoted with magazine and TV ads. The visits to the online videos began to rise. Soon the hits skyrocketed and they thought they had a home run. But nothing could be further from the truth.

There was a big problem with how the videos referred to the way new moms carry their kids. The videos claimed that their choice of child portage was a “fashion statement.” Unfortunately many new moms were very sensitive to this reference. To make matters worse, these weren’t just any new moms, these were connected new moms.

It turns out many of these new moms were connected through a relatively (at the time) new channel called Twitter. Through Twitter, they began to communicate about the videos that offended them so much. Word began to spread and it was this communication channel that was driving all the traffic to the videos. The trouble was, no one on the other side was listening. No one at Pfizer or their marketing agency was listening or monitoring Twitter and they had no clue what was going on.

It wasn’t until a few mainstream blogs posted what was happening, then CNN ran a story that Motrin pulled the videos and an apology was issued by Pfizer-Motrin. But by then it was too late.

The video had been copied and posted on YouTube. Angry new moms went on YouTube and posted their own angry video responses to Motrin.

The campaign was a total failure. What’s worse for Motrin is the online damage is permanent. If you Google “Motrin Moms” you find almost 400,000 hits, most of which relate to this story.

If only Pfizer-Motrin were listening.

What this Means to You

Never before have we had the opportunity to listen in real-time to the conversations, thoughts and comments people are having, about nearly any topic. And yet the first thing most organizations do when they approach social media is to start “broadcasting.” They start spouting their message as if social tools are a new broadcast medium without any regard for what people are saying about them or their industry. What a waste.

Do the opposite. Spend a great amount of time and energy setting up and using social media as listening devices. By having good listening devices in place, you’ll be much more prepared to respond and connect with people and topics that matter. By listening to the conversations about you, your business & industry that are taking place now, you’ll be in a better place to discover and take advantage of opportunities.

As the buzz of a new situation begins to surface, you’ll be in a better position to evaluate how that might be an opportunity for you.

Listening helps you make better decisions. The flood of ideas, projects and demands will never stop. But, having the knowledge of what resonates with people within the social media space will help you prioritize and support the right projects, for the right reasons.

Recommended Tools

As you begin to build your Social Media Toolbox, we recommend the following listening tools:

Google Reader is a way to monitor what is being said across the internet about any subject which interests you. It takes 5-10 minutes a day to scan the web for mentions of your company and/or any keyword that influences your business.

Social Mention searches user-generated content such as blogs, comments, bookmarks, events, news, videos, and microblogging services. It allows you to easily track what people are saying about you, your company, a new product, or any topic across the web’s social media landscape in real-time.

http://bit.ly/9D7fTx (tutorial video)

Hootsuite is a good way to be engaged in social arenas in which you willingly participate. It does not measure all social mentions, but rather streams mentions where YOU have chosen to reach out to your consumer and feeds responses through one localized platform. Hootsuite is touted as the most relevant web application for Twitter. You can schedule all your posts days, weeks, even months out.

http://bit.ly/avZITH (demo video)

Radian6 at the high end of the scale gives you a complete platform to listen, measure and engage with your customers across the entire social web.

Highly recommend watching this short video:
http://bit.ly/bngXYd (Gatorade brand video on importance of social listening. – Radian6 customer)

[box type="note"]UPDATE: This video, just released by Gary Vaynerchuk speaks to this very post.[/box]

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[box type="note"] Web Camp starts December 9th! Are you in? More details at www.webcamp.co [/box]

Altera Performance Group - New Media Marketing & Technology

Gary Vaynerchuk

I’m a big supporter of Gary Vaynerchuk. He’s a class act, unbelievably passionate about connections, transparency and cutting out all the bull-crap that slows companies and people down.

The following is an audio interview Gary gave during Inman Connect in New York. Gary gives his view on how real estate professionals can better use social media to improve their business.

MP3 download

Learn more about Gary at his site www.garyvaynerchuk.com

Get his new book Crush It:

Altera Performance Group - New Media Marketing & Technology