Social Media Lesssons from Shell Oil

Coming back from FranCamp (hard to believe it's been a month), I'm still fascinated with the whole big brand vs. small brand debate and why certain brands get more "likes" on Facebook and "follows" on Twitter.  I really want to find the time to get to the core with the goal being how small brands can learn from the big brands, particularly in franchising.

One of the elements that I think we all know is that a consumer really has to be passionate about the brand and really really LOVE it to "like" it.  Or be sucked in with the one time offer of a discount or savings to which they never really interact with the brand much again but the brand can claim them on their trophy shelf of likes.  A like really isn't very valuable if the consumer ignores your message.   Similar to claiming a sale even if you never get paid.

Of course the brand has to do their part to engage the audience. 

While I'm doing some of this research in my spare time - I do have a day job - I came across this 4-minute interview from the April NextWeb Conference in Amsterdam.  If an oil company can get over a million likes, most of which in about 60 days, what can we learn?




My takeaway:

1. It's hard
2. Driven from the top (CEO gets it - made it happen)
3. Appropriate resources invested
4. Experienced partners 
5. Worldwide Brand - is a million really a small number?

Two great quotes from the interview:

1. "You have no choice in this area" - meaning getting involved in social media
2. "Not engaging is the riskiest thing you can do"

What do you think?