14 Jul Barclay's Social Fail Caused by Bad Timing; Facebook Still the Leader; Change Your Facebook URL

Posted at 09:02h in Social Media Examples by

It’s the weekend. Here are three social media marketing items I found interesting this past week.

Timing Wrecks Barclay’s Social Media Campaign

The British bank Barclay’s had a seemingly innocent campaign they wanted to run on social media. They would track the spending of the fictitious “Dan,” to give advice on how he can improve his finances. The problem? It launched the exact same day that Barclay’s was wracked in the press over the actions of their CEO and accusations of rigging the LIBOR interest rate. Needless to say, that tarnished this campaign. You can read the article here, or see the actual Facebook post for yourself here. Wisely, Barclay’s just stopped the campaign mid-stream.

Is Facebook Still the Leader for Brands Marketing via Social?

With GM pulling out Facebook, with sites like Pinterest gaining traction and with teens adopting Twitter, people are starting to ask me if Facebook is still the leader. The answer, for now, is yes. GM is apparently going back into Facebook buying, and research shows that people using other sites still consider Facebook the main home of their network. Having said that, we watch this very carefully because companies can plunge in popularity faster than ever (think Digg, or RIM).

Don’t Like the URL of your Facebook Page? Change it. Once.

If you picked a bad URL for your brand page (meaning facebook.com/YourBrand), Facebook will now give you the chance to change it by yourself. Be careful what you pick though. You only get to change it once. Go to the top of your Page by the Admin Panel and click Edit Page > Update Info > Basic Information > Change Username.

Bonus Item: AdWeek on Social Media Agency

On a personal note, I was quoted in AdWeek Monday discussing the social media agency model. I elaborated on it in this blog post on Wednesday about why I think the construct of the agency working on social makes so much difference. Would love to know your thoughts.

Have a great weekend.