Exciting News from Vitamin IMC

Hello Vitamin Fans,

Vitamin IMC recently celebrated 6 months of blogging and gaining over 500 followers on Twitter. Thanks to all of you for your support! Keep the comments and tweets coming -- we love hearing from you!

Also, we are excited to announce that Vitamin IMC is featured in the current issue of Medill Magazine. Check out the article to learn about the creation of Vitamin IMC.

And remember, don’t forget to take your vitamins!

-- Marina & Stacy and the Vitamin IMC team

Amazon Steps on Its Own Tail

Amazon.com is a prime example of using the Long Tail theory as a business model. Amazon sells a lot of unique products to niche markets instead of focusing on selling a few popular products to the masses. However, recently the company stepped on its (long) tail when books categorized as "adult material" (including LGBT themed books) were removed from sales rankings and search results. Whether an unfortunate decision or accidental 'glitch,' Amazon's blunder incited outrage that spread like wildfire across the internet.

While Amazon is icing its tail, marketers should take this as a lesson learned and as a reminder to never underestimate the power of the consumer. Consumer communities and social media can escalate an issue before you've even had time to blink. Prevent situations like this by listening to your customers and being proactive. If they are taking time to report issues to you directly, these issues should be investigated and addressed quickly to prevent discontentment. Slow action and sub-par responses infuriate customers. In Amazon's case, one blogger encountered the issue as early as February and posted a timeline of his effort to get the issue resolved.

You can't always expect customers to come to you with issues. Therefore, you must be proactive and monitor Web chatter about your company. Consumers are more forgiving to companies that are trustworthy and authentic. If you uncover an issue and can't fix it immediately, be honest and open with customers and let them know what you're doing to control the situation.

What are your ideas and best practices handling issues and complaints in a social media world?

--Marina Molenda

Don't Be A Patsy

I was reading Sunday’s edition of the New York Times when I came across the following ad:


The first line reads, “You may have heard about Patsy and her anti-drug campaign. Her homemade videos posted on various popular websites seem to be gaining quite a following.” The ad goes on to say that although Patsy might have good intentions, parents should seek out more thorough and tested advice through the Partnership for a Drug-Free America’s Web site.
Further investigation revealed a multitude of Pasty’s videos on sites such as YouTube and hundreds of personal blogs. The videos show Patsy, a seemingly typical suburban mom, employing extremely atypical methods of testing her children for drug use: frisking her children, using drug sniffing dogs and taking all labels off pill bottles in the medicine cabinet to prevent prescription drug abuse.

While the original New York Times ad paints Patsy as a renegade video blogger who is disseminating bad advice to keep kids off drugs, the videos are actually created by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America. All videos end with the line, “Don’t be a Patsy” and a link to the Partnership’s Web site, where parents can find advice on preventing youth drug use.

The most interesting element about the Partnership’s campaign is its deliberate creation of this conflict as a platform to engage consumer interest. The last line of the Times ad reads, “And to Patsy herself, we would like to say one thing: maybe it’s time to put down the video camera.” By writing about a “renegade” blogger, the Partnership is acknowledging the blogosphere’s influence, but also using this influence as a strategy to forward its own agenda.

Check out some of Patsy’s videos and let us know what you think.

--Guest Contributor: Matt McLeod, IMC Graduate Student