Last Tuesday night, I found myself sucked into the Twitter vortex – as enthralled with debates about formula/breastfeeding/corporate social responsibility/mommy bloggers as I was with the Red Sox when they won their first World Series in 86 years.

At a&g, we value the growing influence of certain individuals in the social media space. I’ve been particularly interested in the power of the “mommy blogger”, so many of those I follow in the Twitter space are considered “mommy bloggers”. In catching up with tweets Tuesday night, I learned that many of these influentials were heading to what appeared to be a summit hosted by Nestle. Many of their tweets were about how they were getting on flights or arriving at a cocktail reception and couldn’t wait to meet up with their peers, all using the #nestlefamily hashtag.

But those weren’t the only tweets using #nestlefamily. A groundswell was forming. @phdinparenting posted a very well-thought “open letter” to the mom bloggers attending the Nestle Family Summit, raising awareness of decades-long allegations of improper corporate practices in marketing baby formula to 3rd world nations, where water is very often contaminated. Not being a parent (yet), I didn’t know much about formula, but learned that it needs to be mixed with water – and when that water is contaminated, it often leads to infant death. People have been boycotting Nestle since the 70’s. The Twitter uproar grew louder and louder.

How did Nestle not see this coming?

The next day, tweets on the topic were flying around like bees by a honeycomb. And in the middle of it all were the mom influencers attending the event. There was a tremendous opportunity for them to recognize the issue and raise it – it was clearly time to “call an audible” with the Nestle Family event and shift the conversation. But Nestle wasn’t prepared. The conference continued. And peppered into the ongoing debate on Twitter were posts from mom influencers at the event chirping about their excitement for a Juicy Juice product, how another Nestle product is so delicious, and that Nestle must be a great place to work with average employee tenure being 15-20 years. If the Twitter debate wasn’t being ignored, it was getting heated and nasty. At these times, it was almost as embarrassing to watch as “Big Brother” - it seemed like a high school cat fight.

And where was Nestle?

It seems they wanted to forge on with their event agenda, head-down from all the noise on Twitter.

Some Twitterers were trying to keep the debate civilized. I was pleased to see that the “on ground” influencers raised the issue with Nestle, and @mommysnacks posted the CEO’s response via video from her iPhone. It was smart to provide an insider lens into “what was going on”. Though it seemed the response fell flat – Nestle just didn’t seem to see this coming, and their response echoed this sentiment.

Finally, at around 6/6:30 EST on Wednesday, more than a day after disruption started, Nestle decided to jump into the Twitter conversation. They set up @nestlefamily persona and SVP Scott Remy introduced himself, ready to answer questions and pleading that questions be directed to him, and not the mom influencers at the Nestle Family conference. Not an enviable spot to be in, but he tried to step up. Questions came firing in, but frankly, Scott was not fully equipped to answer. Nestle was back against the ropes and the hits kept coming. Just 35 minutes after Scott’s first tweet, he had to leave. I couldn’t believe it – “NOW???”

The multi-pronged debate raged on without Nestle for a bit, and then Edie and Robyn from Infant Nutrition came on. “Good move,” I thought, “get some experts on the topic at hand in here.” Tough way to join the conversation though – without any preparation and over 200 people following you within your first hour.

The topic is still being fueled a week later (with people calling a boycott of Nestle for Halloween, “#BooNestle”, and @nestlefamily not responding since Friday night). Nestle’s got to battle itself out of a corner. It’ll be interesting to see how they handle this, moving forward. And it will be interesting to see how the mom influencers move forward.

What can be learned here?

Brands:

The conversations are happening, and YOU, as a brand, need to be a part of them. You can’t view outreach as another “one-way” marketing approach. (Yes, Nestle was bringing influencers to CA to discuss their products, but it sounds like it was more about them talking about their products). You can’t control conversations and you can’t rely on others (influencers) to do it for you, but you can represent yourself the best you can – which requires honesty and transparency. This also means being ready to ADDRESS “what if” scenarios. And this will likely require a team effort – particularly for larger brands: marketing, PR, customer service, agencies, etc. – it’s the best way to, as the Boy Scouts say, “be prepared.”

Influencers:

Do your homework on brands with whom you engage. Remember that YOU TOO need to be authentic and transparent. You don’t owe brands that engage with you anything more than your honest point-of-view. Otherwise, the trust you build with followers is diluted. @pdhinparenting had great advice for any influencers considering engagement with a brand: simply Google “Brand X” and “boycott”, and “Brand X” and “ethics”. If anything “suspect” shows up, you have the choice to a) not engage or b) use the opportunity to engage in an informed manner and spark conversation. As my colleague @schneidermike would say: “Respond. Provoke.” If you want to be an influencer, you inherently need to be a leader.

In addition, influencers, you need to be careful of the “boon-doggle” image that could be conveyed by your tweets – I’m sure you don’t want to dilute the trust you’ve built. I really admired this post by an invitee who, though tempted to take a trip to CA and see friends, declined because the content didn’t align with her personal brand.

Anyone Engaging in Dialogue:

Part of the 2-way dialogue is being genuinely open-minded. There were some really antagonistic approaches to people’s comments and questions. It’s hard to get anything good or productive from social media if people can’t be civil and open. One can provoke, but do so with an open mind.

And the conversation continues…

This is a great case study in the power of social media. While not the dialogue Nestle intended, genuine, passionate dialogue has resulted. And as I tweeted very early on in the #nestlefamily build-up, I hope we witness the power of social media resulting “in good.” Watch for yourself, even join in, and let me know what you think.

Some other blog posts and sites regarding this topic:
Thinking outside the hashtag
Did we learn anything from the Nestle Family Twitterstorm?
Nestle Family Blogger Event & Controversy
Let Them Drink Formula and Eat Steak - ‘Nestlé Family Blogger Event’ Fallout
Creating Shared Value at Nestle