Business 2.0

Walgreens, the second largest drugstore in America, is pulling a two-face on Facebook and that says something about their online branding strategy: Brand Pirates Welcome!

In a world where everyone and their grandmother has a facebook profile and is continually having conversation online (including about brands and brand preferences), Walgreens looks to have two corporate Facebook pages and a few store/coupon pages.  (see image)

Two corporate pages are in the lead: Walgreens (“retail”) with about 6,600 fans and Walgreens (“products”) with about 3,900 fans.

So, if I just went to Walgreens and had a great experience, and am now a “fan”, how do I share my support for the brand or my brand success story?  Which page do I choose?

If you think this is unimportant, think again.  Having a unified corporate branding strategy is of the utmost importance and that goes for executing online as well.

The sad thing is, this is pretty common even in organizations as large as Walgreens.  Take CVS, Walgreens’ rival, as an example–poor things.  They look to have four pages, none with more than 1,100.

So, what’s your point?

So, who created these pages?  Who is managing them?  I see little to no interaction from the page admin themselves, and multiple post from people talking shit about the brand.

Large brands must have a central person within their marketing division responsible for emerging marketing channels.  They would consolidate these brand-oriented communities growing online and open dialog with those discussing your brand.  Without anyone could  steal even the most powerful brand and do serious harm even with benign intentions.