The Internet is a great theatre for confrontation. Doesn’t matter the size of the company — upstart or behemoth — there is plenty of room for wars. With all the eyeballs out there, even though they may not pay a big subscription fee for your service, they engage enough with pay per click ads that it’s become a huge business. Google’s total revenue for 2010 was $29.3B; of that, $28.2B was from advertising. It’s no wonder that many are drooling over Google’s position in the market and plotting their demise.
Microsoft has tried to beat Google, but so far has failed. It seems the next big contender is Facebook. It makes sense that as the reach and connectivity of social networks grow, they are a threat to the content network currently owned by the search engines…mostly Google. Facebook reworked it’s advertising to be more prominent and to target all those keywords you put in your profile and posts. It appears to be working as Facebook’s ad revenue is expected to double in 2011, to $4B. But it’s a tough battle trying to make a dent in a powerhouse like Google. It appears that Facebook is pulling out all the stops.
Today, Computerworld ran a less that favorable article about Facbook’s new public relations efforts. Apparently, the social network is trying to discredit Google by pointing out failures in its privacy practices. Facebook has hired a PR firm to plant negative stories about Google in the press. And it looks like they are trying to leverage Microsoft’s attempts at discrediting Google’s security cred. It’s no surprise that if Microsoft can’t beat them on their own, they’re not above trying anything to bring down a competitor!
I know all is fair in love and war and business, but let’s think things through before you launch a campaign like this as there is a lot of room for backfiring.
DON’T UNDERMINE YOUR CREDIBILITY
It looks petty for Facebook to be playing these kinds of games. Most customers want to deal with respectable companies who compete based on the value they deliver. Google received a lot of grief when it caved to the Chinese government on censorship a few years ago. Customers expect companies to hold many of their same values.
DON’T EMPHASIZE YOUR WEAKNESSES
Facebook is being incredibly stupid pushing negative stories about Google’s privacy policies when Facebook itself has been called on this issue many times. Business 101 lesson: when trying to undermine your competitors, don’t call out your own weaknesses. Duh! Facebook should have learned how to avoid PR nightmares when it’s own privacy policy nightmare came to light. But they kept putting their foot in their mouth, trying to distract everyone from the real problem.
In today’s business environment, consumers are very aware of which end is up. The spin machines of the 20th Century no longer work. If a problem arises — and you know eventually it will — customers want you to acknowledge it and show them how you are going to quickly fix it. Whatever it takes. Insulting their intelligence by telling they they don’t understand the problem is only going to make things worse.
DELIVER VALUE
We all need to focus on delivering value for our customers. The world of PR is about building credibility by sharing useful information that will help your customers do their jobs better. Product announcements, tutorial articles, customer case histories, white papers, executive interviews, etc. Keep the information flowing and do a better job of it than your competitors. We already play too many specsmanship games. Other games, like the spin machine, are no longer welcome.
