What do Facebook ‘dislikes’ mean for brand reputation?

Coles, Qantas, Vodafone and Channel Seven are among several high profile Australian companies to have copped the brunt of angry customers on their Facebook pages recently.

Target is the latest Aussie company to bear a backlash online. A post complaining that the retailer’s clothing makes young girls ‘look like tramps’ has since been ‘liked’ by 60,000 people and attracted 3000 comments, reports The Age.

 

Such a torrent of criticism would send any PR department into crisis mode. But are these attacks enough to permanently damage a company or create change?

Mumbrella journalist Cathie McGinn argues that these social media storms have ‘less than zero’ impact on the brand. She compares online ‘actions’ of likes and comments to the Kony 2012 failure, where millions embraced the concept but went no further into any meaningful action.

For Target, consumers have delivered a message about their products. The company might now decide to feed these insights into their product development and marketing departments. Or they might disregard it as nothing more than the voice of people who aren’t their customers anyway. But in two months time, will anyone remember this minor blip on Target’s reputation? Probably not.

Discover how to manage a social media crisis at The Internet Show Sydney. Find out more here.