Facebook’s Latest PR Push: “Here Together”
2018 thus far has been quite the year for Facebook. They have dealt with “Fake News”, being involved with swaying the presidential election, and their most recent blunder with Cambridge Analytica opening a whole new issue around Data Privacy. Zuckerberg has been doing everything in his power to save the face of his business. He recently made an attempt to address these issues in front of Congress. While the outcome of the meeting had mixed sentiment, it overall seemed like a step in the right direction. Now that Zuckerberg has attempted to resolve the issue from a legal matter, he is now on a mission to regain the customer base that he has lost.
Related: How to Turn Facebook Into a Reliable Lead Gen Source
The majority of the issues that Facebook is now dealing with stems from the advertising side. Consumers seem not to have been educated enough on how their data is used, thus they feel as if they have been deceived. There are plenty of resources that explain how Facebook uses your data and many options to opt out, but it seems they have not been made a prominent as they should have been. To combat this issue and regain their followership, Facebook is tackling this issue head-on. They are using a combination of advertising placements including traditional methods. The name of this major offensive PR campaign is “Here Together”.
Here is the main commercial associated with the big push. They also have spent a pretty penny to make sure that it is seen. Some of its placements will include spots during the NBA Playoffs.
In my opinion, this advertisement does a great job of repositioning Facebook. It brings back the human element that Facebook has recently forgotten. My usage habits for Facebook have changed over the years as the platform has evolved. I used to use it to connect with friends old and new. Nowadays, I use it as a hub for my favorite publications and rarely see anything on my feed relative to my friends. This advertisement does a good job of utilizing those memories that you have shared on Facebook and brings it back to the forefront. It also relates back to the statement that Zuckerberg made in his conference with Congress stating,
“My top priority has always been our social mission of connecting people, building community and bringing the world closer together,” Zuckerberg says in the prepared remarks. “Advertisers and developers will never take priority over that as long as I’m running Facebook.”
Although I think the advertisement does a great job overall. There is one specific sentence that is getting a lot of backlash. When the advertisement transitions into addressing the recent shortcomings of Facebook they used the verbiage “Then Something Happened.” This makes them seem like they are the victim of circumstance. This is not resonating well with consumers because it feels like Facebook is still not willing to take the blame for what has happened.
Related: Facebook Groups for Business
It will be interesting to see how this PR push is able to combat the negative sentiment associated with this Tech Giant. I believe it will also be followed by a series of challenges for an advertiser, but in the end what is the use of the platform for advertisers if no one is on it. So hopefully Facebook is able to find their happy medium and regain their happy customers.
