GerardMcLean.com

I was reading this blog post on businessinsider.com and it struck me that there are a fair number of brands that have been skewered by social media over the past few years.

And then it occurred to me that these brands have gotten a lot of press because of it. A LOT of press! With the exception of Dominos, the brands only seemed to be more visible to their target market. I have not seen any numbers, but based on what I know of the Amercian consumer, I suspect sales probably rose slightly just based on awareness alone.

If you have not yet been skewered by Social Media, what are you waiting for? I propose that you do something that mommybloggers might find offensive, make sure it is visible in the space and let it run a few days. Then come out with a YouTube video, apologize and offer a coupon on your web site blog to make things right.

In the meantime, you have gotten millions of folks to tweet about you, pass along your name in retweets, write blog posts about your misdeeds, write blog posts about the blog posts about your misdeeds, the New York Times will write a story on you, the Today Show will have someone from your trade association on your show maybe a Social Media expert saying what happened and what you did right and Wikipedia will feature you and your brand as someone who “gets social media” and did all the right things. It is a win all around for everyone.

Remember when John McCain snuffed David Letterman? That was probably the best show all week that the writers didn’t need to write. In the end, McCain didn’t win the election, but he wasn’t going to anyway.

If you don’t have at least one Twitterstorm in your resumé, how will people know you are a Social Media-worthy brand? Consumers only gripe about brands they are aware of. They only hate the brands they care about.

Like your IPO, a stock offering, an audit gone bad and a product recall, a Twitterstorm will be a right of passage for “real” brands. You had better make yours happen quick before the media stops caring about Twitter.

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