Companies protect their brand fiercely. People know their brand and they don’t want to let others use their likeness for profit. When companies do catch infringement they usually round up their lawyers and sue the offenders. But the public can view this aggressive response as negative and it’s a missed opportunity for good publicity.
Jack Daniels, the whiskey manufacturer, recently found itself in a case of copyright infringement over a book cover that resembled their bottle’s logo. Rather than seeking monetary gains they wrote a cease and desist letter to the author. They even offered to pay for the costs involved in the cover changes. Instead of suing straight away they were seen as the nice guy who wanted to help instead of a money hungry company. The case turned out to create publicity for both Jack Daniels and the author. Jack Daniels got more attention to their product and company presence while the author got publicity for his book. This is an example where a company can turn a situation to favor them and avoid negative buzz.
Turning bad situations into good publicity is something every company should prepare for. Jack Daniels was lucky and able to develop a plan that turned the case into good publicity. But if something negative is brought to the company’s attention too late it could be a lost cause and take lots of monetary funds to fix the situation. Social media monitoring is something that companies have to invest in to avoid any possible damage. Anyone can post anything at any time about your company and can cause lots of damage if caught too late. People can read a negative review and cease to buy things or a copyright infringement could be happening. With social media monitoring you can be alert and know what goes on regarding your company.
Companies can use SMM tools to assist in brand monitoring. Programs like Alerti can tell you everything you’d want to know about your brand’s presence online. It’s easy to find out where and when your company is being talked about and give you sentimental analysis on positive or negative responses. Social media monitoring should be something every company invests in. It can assist in turning a growing negative problem into a positive one and avoiding any large-scale problems. You can get to know your audience better as well so you can keep your presence in a good light and keep consumers loyal to the brand.
In this week’s episode of “The Future of Engagement” Murray Newlands talks about the Jack Daniels’ case and ways to turn publicity in your favor.
Highlights:
- Develop a plan to turn negative publicity and comments into positive ones that can make the company come off unscathed.
- Social media monitoring use can assist in keeping track of your brand online.
- An SMM tool can do the monitoring for you and provide you the results in easy to read formats.Click on the free white paper here to get some information on social media monitoring.
