Nestl: A social Media nightmare Executive summary

The report analyze actions taken by Nestle communication department after Greenpeace has initiated a campaign targeting KitKat product, as a result of operating with palm oil suppliers endanger rainforest in Indonesia. It is highly advised to apologize about the attitude used on the corporate Facebook page, to terminate the contract with the supplier in question and to work with Greenpeace and other activist to make a sustainable solution to the company supply of palm oil Corporate strategy has to be reformed to be more proactive and have high engagement with audience specially in the social network channels and provide proper training and empowerment to the people working in it.

Situation analysis
The situation has been incrementally getting complicated as a result of poor communication management along the way which ended facing this crisis instead of handling the small problem when it was first appeared. The root cause of the situation was ignited by the slow response and lack of actions from Nestle after being communicated by Greenpeace organization, especially if we consider the fact that other companies gone through the same exercise were remarkably responsive and left Nestle behind as the only nutrition giant who didnt react to the issue of rainforest endangerment. This lack of reaction also have a bad impact on the corporate image for adapting the social responsibility value and contradict with its Creating Shared Value initiative, which affects badly on corporate credibility. When the published video was first discovered reactions followed was not organized and showed that there was no plans in place to face such situations, as a result the spontaneous and random actions perform to deal with the situation caused more harm and actually ignited the situation to become more flamed. First action was made was legal by removing the video on YouTube which actually created a buzz that resulted in much more damage as it made people more eager to see it and resulted in spreading the video more, and urged activists to escalate and react on the corporate Facebook page. The threatening post in Facebook was rather making the problem bigger and admin engagement with negative reply in a rude and childish manner making a debate which may cause loss of some customers, this has been later being dealt with an apology (despite being late), but looking to the positive side this created a growth in the number of fans in the page and resulted in stock market price loss. Nestle actions in this situation conveyed some unwanted image that needed to be dealt with. As the fact of dealing with such supplier and ignoring to take actions after 1

communicated implied that company is not keen to preserve its social responsibility and focusing only on profits. And the way the Facebook page was moderated transmits the message that the company is unwilling to admit with faults, lack of mutual communication with fans ground, trying to cover up instead of solving the real problem and unprofessionalism in running such important channel

Recommended response
The response should be made on different levels to solve the whole issue. Nestle should quickly react and end the contract with the supplier as a reaction to the actual problem and then open channels with Greenpeace and see how can they build common ground to solve this problem permanently and insure that the company follow sustainable palm oil supply policy that respect the rainforest. Also communicating these actions to the public by press conference and statements in corporate web and social networking presence expressing its apology for the palm oil problem and the communication management happened on the corporate Facebook page. The reason of engaging Greenpeace is to ensure that the company is being responsive, and you are open to criticism and consider the audience voice specially with highly reputable NGOs that have global agreement in the public eyes on goals and problems, this can also be part of the brand image when properly marketed as part of the company social responsibility. Although this could have a negative part that has to be taken into consideration that not all NGOs should be taken for granted some may just accuse with false cases and some may have hidden or unapproved agenda, and being always obeying may case financial damage and drain the company from its own strategy by creating false battles, so we should investigate heavily to these demands and only respond to proper cause demands

Message design and response

In order to respond properly to these communication crises the following messages has to send by the company different communication channels: - State a clear apology for contributing to rainforest endangerment and for the improper communication management in the Facebook page - Give back some offers to offended people in Facebook page - Admit for the problem and give concrete actions to resolve it - Stress on Nestle long commitment with social responsibility and the company future plans to include the rain forest problem as part of that engagement - Express the willingness to listen to the audience voices and to respond to them My suggestion is to have the message communicated in 2 channels, a face-to-face one through press conference to insure that the message is clearly transmitted with high importance and another message specifically to social media audience. Messages should be direct and to the point to make the best effect required by them.

Public press conference message: Nestle apologize for not taking enough measures to ensure that all its products are environmental friendly. We are currently studying the legal terms to terminate our contract with the supplier in question and preparing for a summit with the participation of the concerned environmental activist to reach a permanent solution to make our supply chain sustainable. Nestle will continue and expand its engagement in Creating Shared Value program and will make sure it will cover the rainforest degradation problem

Communication strategy
It is essential to have a communication strategy, a one that is or Make real actions dont just talk engage with green peace to reach a common ground Hiring professionals to manage your Social Media outlets, planning for crises, training in Social presence requires planning, preparation, training and focus. Crisis management and real-time PR, etc.), Communication officer was less competent and confident that he could not react in an organized way and start panicking when the news came Communication officer did not have a clue what to do and had to go to chairman with no alternatives even to choose from Communication officer dealt with ignorance with the situation that he rest by knowing the video is out without understanding the implications or preparing a real action plan to overcome this situation.

Social media strategic plan

All big corporate must have as it has many benefits... Real source of customer voice and feedback Presence in one of the most growing mediums You need to be there in order to a) monitor, b) learn, and c) respond quickly and adequately Considering the age and nature (make a Facebook demographic study) of the fans on the social networking media nestle has to develop an attitude that guarantee mutual interaction and getting feedback and consider it as a source of real customer voice The main strategy to have for the online communication is to engage people as much as we can in the communication, there are no other communication medium that could allow such direct engagement and by embracing as it was said by the commenter social media is about embracing your market. Engaging and having conversation rather than preachingi Openness and active communication channel between Nestl and public minimize direct campaign. Be there -> Monitor -> Introduce yourself -> Acknowledge -> Engage -> Take charge -> Redirect -> Manage -> Follow through.ii

KPIs
To measure the success of the proposed communication strategy, some KPIs has to be measured to insure effective application of it, these include: - Financial results comparing before to after problem (sales, stocks etc) - Fans number in Facebook pages - Surveys should be issued regularly by third party entity - Create a metric of customer satisfaction and measure it regularly - Review comments mails and other Feedback

Ivey case: Nestle: A social media nightmare (B) http://thebrandbuilder.wordpress.com/2010/03/24/greenpeace-vs-nestle-how-to-make-sure-your-facebook-page-doesn %E2%80%99t-become-a-pr-trojan-horse-%E2%80%93-part-1/ 7 July 2012
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