Disney's Magic Halo – Does Social Media Have an Effect?

Recently, Disney disappointed a number of influential Mom bloggers by turning them down for this year’s Disney Social Media Moms Celebration.  After hundreds of Mom bloggers waited patiently to sign up for a limited number of spots at the conference, some waited  by their computer up to an hour for the application page to upload, Disney finally sent out the final acceptances for who would make the cut.   Those who were declined had mixed feelings on the situation, many demanding an explanation from Disney on how they determined how the Mom bloggers were accepted.  The decision, evidently, was not first-come, first-serve, as the initial invitation stated.  (see more of the story at She Posts)

Disney would not comment on how they selected the 350 bloggers.  So what does this mean for Disney?  It’s clear that some Moms who didn’t get accepted will still support Disney.  Some are disappointed, but the magic of Disney’s brand is powerful and isn’t easily replaced by another.

So if a tree falls and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?  If this debacle creates no question about  Disney’s brand, does it even matter how they implement social media practices?  Can they not play by the rules, and get away with it? In many cases, if a company is “inconsistent” in how they  communicate to bloggers, blowback usually  follows.

So what is to be learned from this mishap?  Though Disney may not lose brand affinity, they certainly missed out on an opportunity to apply the judo move in spreading word of mouth for this event!  Had Disney applied the judo move they could have seen the opportunity to have hundreds of Moms share their love for Disney, and even get readers in on the process.  Had they built the application process around a competition or had influencers submit videos and testimonials on why they should be accepted, even spurred reader participation by taking votes on the best cases – the company could have polished their brand’s halo rather than potentially tarnish it.

Although there are no hard and fast rules to social media, there are definitely general principles to follow and these could mean the difference between failure and success.  While Disney did not fail in terms of a social media backlash, they definitely did not succeed where they had a great opportunity to do some good.