An example of a big name that has taken advantage of the social media scene is Molson Canadian. With over half a million likes on their Facebook page, the brand uses the medium effectively to regularly engage in one-on-one conversations with consumers.
A current competition involves a series of weekly “GAME ON MISSIONS” that asks users to post some sort of hockey/beer/Canadiana themed picture to their wall captioned “#thisisourgame” with the promise of the best photo being featured on their timeline along with various Molson memorabilia. Here, Molson is stimulating positive consumer interaction, and extrapolating the number of “touches” Facebook users (who don’t even have to be fans of their specific product page to witness) come into contact with.
But it’s not all Molson-branded-hoodie-wearing-puppies and certified-cold-tall-boys-set-against-snow-capped-mountain-ranges. Setting up an open forum FB page such as this opens the company up to unfiltered criticisms from anyone with a wi-fi connection.
On January 12th, they posted a photo captioned:
“Big few days ahead for fantasy drafts now that the NHL is back. Who are your top 3 picks?“
Among responses from bitter post-lockout fans, a left-field comment was made by one user:
“I’ll drink Canadian when they beat the belgium beer in a taste test.“ - Nick Smith
To which Molson casually replied,
“Hey Nick, thanks for reaching out. Maybe one of the other beers in our portfolio is more to your liking. Cheers!“
Though still a little corporate-speaky, Molson made an attempt to turn a criticism of their product into an opportunity to expand consumer knowledge of the brand, when they could have just as easily deleted the comment entirely for fear that it would reflect negatively on their image.
Consumers want to know that a company gives a shit. And the fact that they’re willing to respond (literally within minutes) to a comment such as this is a brilliant example of how even large scale businesses like Molson can capitalize on using social media to interact on a more humane, personal level with the people for whom the business fundamentally exists to benefit. Me and my beer drinking friends.
