You've been brandjacked. Now What?

Coca-Cola is the focus of the second most popular group on Facebook. Who’s number 1? None other than the POTUS himself, Barack Obama. I saw traces of this story bouncing around in the twittersphere and didn’t think much of it until I read this piece by Ad Age: How Two Coke Fans Brought the Brand to Facebook Fame.

 ”Pop quiz: Who has the most popular page on Facebook? Barack Obama. Who’s second? Coca- Cola. Yes, sugared water runs second only to the  leader of the free world.”

According to Ad Age, an aspiring actor and Coke aficionado Dusty Sorg was looking for a fan page in late 2008. He didn’t find a legitimate one, so he found an image and created one himself. Not crazy or unheard of. Customers do it all the time. Here’s the crazy part. Out of the 253 pages devoted to coke, Dusty’s became the most popular with nearly 3.3 million fans! Sounds great, but there’s a problem:

Coke had NOTHING to do with a very popular page on a social networking site that caters to a large chunk of their core audience.

The page eventually became populated with all sorts of things (spam,etc). Facebook was ready to step in and shut it down because the page was technically in violation of the site’s terms (Brand-focused fan pages must be run by people officially affiliated with/authorized by the brand). What happened next is a testament to the marketing savvy of Coke brand managers (or the talented behind-the-scenes PR and Marketing firm folks). 

Coke offered to share the page with the creators, flew them down to Atlanta for a few days of meetings and gave them a tour of the World of Coke museum. Win, win and win. 

As with most things in social media, there isn’t a one size fits all solution, but if you think things through, you’ll come up with something that works for everyone involved. If you ever find yourself (or one of your clients) brandjacked, here are a few things you can do. 

1. Answer this: Who are these people?  Start a profile- Name, age, occupation, location. 

2. Determine if these people are friends or enemies. What have they said about your brand and others? 

3. If they are friends, is there a way that you can support them? Giveaways, involvement in contests, special brand-related info? 

4. If they are enemies, is there a way to address them without making too much of a fuss? How dangerous are they to the brand? Is addressing them even necessary? 

5. No matter what (friend or foe), decide how they could play into the brand’s future activities in this space and others.