Business must adapt to power of social media campaigns

ROBERT GOTTLIEBSEN
March 31, 2017
The Australian

Here is an invitation for you: Send a dollar “to help stop Westpac from financing the destruction of the Great Barrier Reef’’.

That’s the invitation that has gone out via email and social media to at least 1.5 million people most of whom now believe that Westpac is a very evil company determined to wreck the reef.

The fact that Westpac is not financing the destruction of the reef is of no relevance at all. The communication illustrates the way “news” is now often transmitted in our country.

Step by step small and large corporations plus governments are discovering that social media and emails not only change the communication rules but can be used to damage business customer bases.

What happened to Westpac can and will be duplicated in a vast number of commercial situations and government endeavours. 

I saw the Westpac invitation to “chip in” a dollar when a friend passed on an email they received from a group called SumOfUs.

Here are some extracts: 

“Westpac is on the verge of financing the largest coal mine in Australia — a project that would dredge millions of tonnes of World Heritage Area seabed and put the Great Barrier Reef at grave risk. 

“Allowing Adana to build its mega-mine will just accelerate destruction of the Reef.

Adani can’t be trusted to protect the Great Barrier Reef.

“Adani, the company behind the mine, is allegedly corrupt. Banks from HSBC to NAB have refused to lend it money for this mine. 

“But it’s still gaining ground: the coal giant has a conditional $1 billion loan from the government. The company is so confident about its project it has already begun to purchase supplies and hire staff.

“SumOfUs has created a viral-ready video calling on Westpac to pull funding from Adani’s project. 

“But we need help from members like you to get the video on the air. If we raise $15,000, we could get a week of airplay.

“If Westpac refuses to finance this mine, it could deal the final blow.

“SumOfUs is a worldwide movement of people like you, working together to hold corporations accountable for their actions and forge a new, sustainable path for our global economy.

“Together, we can stop Westpac from financing this destructive project. Will you chip in AU$1 today?” 

There is a small problem. Much of the Westpac material in the email is not true. Westpac has no pending agreement to fund the mine. A spokesman issued in writing this statement:

“Westpac aren’t considering it because we haven’t even been approached for finance. When we are approached on these types of projects there is very stringent environmental assessment as part of the decision making process”.

The point is that the activists have decided that this project should not go ahead. They are entitled to have that view. But such is the power of the new communications mediums that very few projects can proceed against the power of a social media/email campaign.

Australia sets up all sorts of bodies to determine whether particular projects such as mines, factories, residential projects and the like should go ahead. 

But irrespective of the quality of the decisions if the activists decide to oppose a project then it probably will not go ahead. 

But that activist power is now being targeted at the customer bases of medium sized companies. About 30 large business organisations recently backed gay marriage. They are entitled to do that. But when a medium sized company, Coopers Brewery, found itself linked to a different point of view it quickly had to disassociate itself or potentially lose a big portion of its customer base. The next step is for consumer companies marketing in the 18 to 32 age bracket to be told what views they should have and be required to express them.

The simple fact is that people who are aged between 18 and 32 rarely regularly read daily newspapers (so they will still believe that Westpac is an evil bank) and have limited and reducing exposure to television. They often receive their “news” from people who are very skilled in communicating via the new mediums. And as we now see activists can raise small amounts of money to bond their followers to their causes and create a very powerful data base. Leave aside your views on particular matters — this is a brilliant strategy.

One of the reasons (certainly not the only one) that we have an energy crisis is that activists frightened weak politicians who often papered over the community dangers of appeasing those activists. And banks are particularly good targets because the community does not hold them in high regard. 

That’s the new game and it’s not going to change quickly. Accordingly we need corporations and governments to recruit young people who have the skills to play the game. We need politicians who get the best outside advice and determine what is right for the community and then argue their case via every outlet possible including skilled use of social media.

We might not like it but the communication game has changed and unless the wider community, including governments and corporations adapt to the new reality they will be ambushed at every turn.