I'm down with TP on the FB

A little backstory. Cottonelle had a problem on its hands. People who bought moist wipes were keeping them out of view in the bathroom, down in the cabinets somewhere. So they were forgetting about them and not going through them fast enough.

Cottonelle’s solution was simple: Make moist wipes part of your daily ass-wiping regimen as opposed to a some-time thing. And create a social media space where fans could share their thoughts on moist toilet paper wipes. To Cottonelle’s credit, they crowd-sourced the name of their product care routine. Genius, huh?!

Let's take a look at the success rate. Cottonelle has nearly 137,000 likes. Boom! And 994 people talking about them. (Whatever that means.)

Oh, that’s not enough for you?

Fine, fine. Cottonelle’s Try it and Name It app is a stunning success. Facebook Super Fans are engaging like gangbusters. Just listen to some of the amazing names that have been posted for consideration:

The not so brown star.
Butthole blaster.
The Federation Has Finally Defeated The Klingons.

Social Media Gurus: 1 Doubters: 0!

Now, it hasn’t all been smelling like roses. A lot of Facebook users are posting their names to Cottonelle’s wall. But they're supposed to go through the app. This is elemental. Just like everyone knows in order to see something from a brand on Facebook you usually have to like the page first, thereby inflating the numbers of ‘fans.’ Duh!

Unfortunately, the engagement Cottonelle has with its Super Fans sound more like this:

Nice name! Go to the Name Generator tab and enter your idea there.

Or this when a complaint comes up:

We are sorry. Please try calling Consumer Services at this number: 1-888-525-8388 for assistance.

Then there are these comments:

CHARMIN toilet paper all the way.... Sorry I dislike Cottonelle

How do I unlike this crappy advertising for toilet paper? Come on guys...Cottonelle as a product is garbage.

I've always used Charmin, i've been brought up with it.

This last one suggests that people can “like” a brand offline. As if branding had to take years instead of weeks. Ha ha ha ha ha! Maybe in the 1950’s.

But let’s not just point out the haters. One person, (emphasis on one) posted this gem:

Congratulations to Cottonelle for getting people to be social and share information about something so personal! Nice Job!! :)

How nice of them! Of course, after a two minute google search, I discovered the person works in social media and probably isn't a true fan. But that’s okay! They get it! : )

Now here's the bad news. Sorry Cottonelle, but you have some competition from European Toilet Paper company Renova. You may own the Wipe Regimen Naming category but these Euro folks have cornered the market on sexy gourmet toilet paper.

Yep that’s right. Sexy toilet paper in sexy colors. And with a whopping 4,392 likes and 165 people talking, Renova is changing the way we think about toilet paper for good.

Now granted, they don’t engage with their fans that much, but no matter. They are hip and sexy and trendy. And this was true even before Facebook. Just look at their ads.
Suddenly my Charmin Extra Strong just seems inadequate. I must like them on Facebook right now to make up for it.

That’s what happens when you get two toilet paper innovation companies utilizing the latest trends on Facebook. They become stellar examples of social media's power. After this, one realizes how much GM and P&G are missing out by not spending tons of money on paid Facebook ads. They're just not with the latest trends.

And like all things trendy, one has to accept it as being amazing.
And if you don’t agree, well, you clearly don’t get it.