Rubbermaid unit gets parents talking online

Why?

Next to “no,” parents with speaking toddlers are likely to be hit with a verbal arsenal of “whys” as their little ones start exploring the world around them.

So opined Lindsay Lebresco, social media manager and blogger for blog.gracobaby.com, a Web site where moms and dads get together and discuss parenting issues.

Launched last year, blog.gracobaby.com — owned by Graco Children’s Products, a unit of Atlanta-based Newell Rubbermaid — is designed to get parents talking with each other.

For years, companies from banks to retailers have looked to the Internet as a way to raise their profiles, building online versions of their real-world storefronts.

But now companies are looking at social media sites — from chat rooms and blogs to more popular Web portals such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace — as a way to market their brands and image. Such sites also give detailed demographic information about potential customers such as their ages, likes and dislikes, and other data marketers crave.

Chatting about baby’s first steps or whether sippy cups are bad for teeth alignment? Then you might think “Graco” when looking for a highchair or a car seat. At the same time, these sites help companies to engage in instant, or near-instant, conversations with social media users to help them with problems or correct any misinformation about their firms.

“We write about topics that are related to parenting — potty training or whatever parents are talking about in the parenting blogosphere,” Lebresco said.

Hence her recent post about her son’s never-ending “whys:” Why do birds live outside? Why does his little sister cry a lot? Why did he pee on the wall? (“Does anyone need a reason to pee on the wall? Because it’s there, I guess,” responded one fellow blogging parental unit.)

Such ventures can be tricky for companies angling for modern, Web-savvy customers, without seeming too product-pushy or annoying. Instead, many take a softer approach, hoping a positive experience will be associated with the brand.

That explains the not-in-your-face, sometimes funny approach of Graco’s baby blog, even though its stable of 10 bloggers all are employees from various divisions of the company. Some of their recent posts: one blogger’s son discovered licking a stick of cinnamon-flavored gum and sticking it to one’s forehead causes a burning, stinging sensation. Another gave parents the Top 10 ways to quiet their 2-year-olds and yet another about the first days of kindergarten.

Companies are reluctant to quantify social media’s benefits in immediate dollars or sales, saying long-term loyalty is their goal.

“We do talk about new products, but it’s more than that,” Lebresco said. “We aren’t just trying to sell a product to somebody. What we’re really trying to do is build relationships to parents and talk about what with important with their kids.”

Those relationships matter because a misstep can easily turn customers off if they feel like they’re being bombarded with sales pitches, said Karma Crawford, director of media and interactive for carbonated drinks at Coca-Cola Co.’s North American division.

The Atlanta-based beverage giant has legions of fans on Facebook, a popular social networking site, each of whom have created their own fan sites and other homages to Big Red.

But even with that, Coke, which has created a few notable marketing events linked to social media including last year’s “Cherrify MySpace,” a contest linked to a Cherry Coke promotion, treads carefully.

“We don’t believe in being intrusive,” Crawford said, explaining the trick to success is letting users of such networks dictate how much interaction they want. “We are learning and listening. You let them raise their hand. You want them to have identified that you have something to say that they care about.”

That’s a smart approach, said Brian Uzzi, the Richard L. Thomas chair in leadership at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

“If a company becomes too intrusive, a person can simply walk away from it and tell their friends to stay away from it or create a blog about it.”

That’s why soft approaches such as Graco’s tend to work, because it’s not a continual sales pitch.

“If large companies started doing that, people would have the same reaction that they have to telemarketers at dinner time,” Uzzi said. “If they keep hearing a sales pitch from someone they’re just going to tune it out. You want to keep it fresh and new so people are attracted to it. If they started baiting that with the hard sell, people would really react to that negatively.”

Companies also use these sites as a way to polish their images and take proactive measures to boost customer service measures. Comcast, the cable service provider, took a beating on YouTube two years ago when a customer videotaped a technician who fell asleep on the customer’s couch after being on hold with the company for an hour. Underscoring the power of the immediacy of the Internet and its reach, that video has been viewed more than 1.28 million times, according to YouTube.

The company overhauled its customer service operations, hiring 15,000 representatives and giving more authority to phone reps and the technicians who interact directly with customers. It also launched Comcastcares earlier this year on Twitter, geared toward addressing customer complaints.

“One of the best places for feedback has been the blogosphere,” said Frank Eliason, director of digital care at Comcast.

The company uses Twitter to answer customer questions, walk them through installations and other issues. Eliason said it has proven to be a valuable tool for Comcast, which uses some of that online interaction to improve and tweak its customer service operations.

“Twitter is a great place for feedback; it’s a very active community,” he said “We have about 11,600 ‘twits’ since April.”

“In social media one of the more interesting things that we’ve learned is there’s a lot of people that may have a problem and they don’t necessarily contact us to let us know,” Eliason said, adding that Twitter users seek him out. “People have gotten to know me personally.”

NETWORKING LEADERS

Online social media networks aren’t just for your friends anymore. Many companies are looking to such networks such as Twitter, MySpace, Facebook and blogs. They hope to foster goodwill with potential customers, use data obtained from those sites for more customized marketing and to correct misinformation. Here’s what some companies have done or are in the process of doing:

Coca-Cola Co.: Last year, the company launched a contest on MySpace in a tie-in to the relaunch of Cherry Coke. MySpace users were asked to design a custom-made page incorporating a “cherrified” theme. The winner of the monthlong contest — other MySpace users voted for their favorite page — was rewarded with his design being MySpace.com’s home page for 24 hours.

Graco: Last year, the baby products maker created blog.gracobaby.com, where moms and dads (and other children’s caretakers) could discuss the issues surrounding parenting and childhood. The five-day-a-week blog is less about pushing products, though it does make mention of some of the company’s offerings periodically in response to a blog topic. Instead, executives say they want to foster relationships in the parenting community it says will yield deeper, long-term relationships.

Comcast: The cable firm has created a Comcastcares page on Twitter aimed at giving customers a connection to senior customer service folks whenever they need help with their accounts. The program has been extremely successful, executives say, adding since its inception earlier this year, Comcastcares has gotten more than 11,600 “twits” on the site.

Aflac: Next to the Coke bottle, Columbus-based supplemental insurer Aflac may have Georgia’s next-most famous icon: the Duck. The Duck even has more than a nest full of fans on Facebook who’ve incorporated some homage to the yellow-billed, white-feathered bird on their pages. Aflac is studying the trend and is working on a social media strategy but hasn’t formally launched anything yet.