Johnson & Johnson’s Community Relations

As Jonathan Levine once said, “In community relations, you don’t know for years the effect you’ve had. Building good relations is like nurturing a friendship over years. In a crisis, you can turn to your friend in another…community and say ‘I need your help’”. For a company as globally large and prominent as Johnson & Johnson, one would believe their community relations is impeccable. Through investigation, I have come to the realization that this is close to the truth. Johnson & Johnson succeeds in almost all aspects of community relations.

One of the first major indicators that Johnson & Johnson is approaching community relations in the correct way is how easily accessible its community relations information page is. When an individual is to type in the key phrases “Johnson & Johnson Community Relations” to Google’s search engine toolbar, the J&J community relations page is the first link on the webpage results.

Johnson & Johnson’s “Our Giving” page, which serves as its community relations information platform, begins by making a simple yet bold statement: “Creating a Healthier World, One Community at a Time”. It is this statement that all of the company’s community involvement efforts fall under.

One may ask, what exactly does Johnson & Johnson do to show community support? The company has three main focuses when it comes to their community outreach efforts: saving and improving the lives of women and children, preventing disease among the most vulnerable and strengthening the health workforce. J&J uses their myriad of partnerships with scientists, technology experts and other professionals from the global academic and business communities to develop and market new products everyday. These products are then donated to individuals in need within their 3-tier community outreach focal group. For example, some of the community outreach programs Johnson & Johnson are currently involved in are Global Fund for Women’s Online Media Project, Global Motherhood, and Millenial Development.


The company webpage provides links on its “Our Giving” page to a detailed description of all of the abovementioned community outreach programs. Johnson & Johnson does not stop there, however. If one is interested in any additional information, or information on J&J’s community outreach in years prior, there are links to information pages on the “Our Giving” landing page as well.

When it comes to community relations, it is essential that a company’s outreach is tied to their mission statement. This connection is made flawlessly by Johnson & Johnson. Rather than leaving a consumer to make their own judgments as to whether or not the company’s efforts support their mission statement, J&J clearly spells out the connection. Underneath the company’s statement about creating healthier communities J&J states, “We fulfill our mission by developing enduring partnerships that deliver community-based solutions to health challenges”. Acknowledging that its community efforts should match its mission statement, and taking it a step further by writing it out on their community relations webpage is an effective and smart way for Johnson and Johnson to comfort consumers; this statement alone instills more trust in consumers, partners, and other key publics that any funds donated to J&J’s causes will be used ethically and efficiently.

Johnson & Johnson’s thorough approach to community relations acts as great public relations for the company. Having all of the information on one landing page, providing clear connections between the mission statement and outreach, providing links to both the outreach J&J is currently involved in as well as what they have been in involved in throughout the past are all elements that contribute to a great sense of community involvement. In addition to all of these things, Johnson & Johnson also has a Twitter handle (@JNJGlobalHealth) that creates tweets regarding their community projects as well as posts relevant articles for consumers.

Although Johnson & Johnson almost flawlessly executes community relations, there is always room for minor improvements. As an individual interested in the company’s outreach, I seemed to be searching for an informational element that was not simply written; in other words, I was looking for some sort of visual that would bring J&J’s outreach initiatives to life. After a YouTube search I came across a series of videos from Johnson & Johnson’s All You Love campaign (Example Video) This series of videos brings to life the company’s commitment to caring, and furthermore their commitment to the community. Had Johnson & Johnson provided videos such as these to their “Our Giving” page I believe their community relations would appear even stronger to a potential consumer, partner, etc.

Overall, Johnson & Johnson is seemingly a company as involved in the community as it is in the business side of things. This appearance can enhance the company’s reputation exponentially, and in the long run increase business

Johnson & Johnson's Social Media Presence and Outreach

As Seth Godin once said, “Marketing is no longer about the stuff that you make, but about the stories that you tell”. The essence of social media is knowing your audiences and engaging them in something that they love. Johnson & Johnson is a company that seemingly ‘gets it’.

Johnson & Johnson’s traditional website (http://www.jnj.com) is easily accessible, being the first link to show when an individual searches “Johnson & Johnson” on Google.

 

This, although it may seem negligible, is actually somewhat of a monumental step in the right direction; many times Internet searches become convoluted with ads for a company or their products and these ads are often displayed before the link to the actual website.

When visiting the Johnson & Johnson website, navigating to its social media sites is both quick and easy. The active social media icons provided on the site are inclusive of the following: Johnson & Johnson official blog (http://www.blogjnj.com), a Kilmer House website (http://www.kilmerhouse.com), Facebook accounts (https://www.facebook.com/jnj), many Twitter accounts (https://twitter.com/JNJCares), YouTube account (https://www.youtube.com/user/JNJhealth), Linkedin account (https://www.linkedin.com/company/johnson-&-johnson), and Google+ account (https://plus.google.com/u/0/+jnj/posts).

The location of these icons on the website, however, is one aspect that may be fit for change. The social media icons are located at the bottom left of the webpage. According to eyetracking research Internet user’s eye path starts form the upper left corner, moves to the middle, and ends at the bottom left. Therefore to increase visibility, it may serve beneficial to move the icons to the top right of the page, below the company logo.

This company’s blog and Kilmer House website (a website dedicated to sharing the history and backstory of how Johnson & Johnson came to be) are both informative and personalized to the target audience.

The purpose of the J&J blog as states on the site is as follows: “Everyone else is talking about our company, so why can’t we? There are approximately 128,000 people who work for Johnson & Johnson and its operating companies around the world. This blog is an opportunity for us to find a voice, — and start some conversations, give our perspective and share some stories — that often get lost in formal communications about the work we do and the things we value”. The J&J blog acknowledges that everyone is talking about their corporation, so why not be a part of the conversation? As many reputation management individuals may say, ‘if you are not going to tell the story of your company someone else will’. Johnson & Johnson taking part in the conversation and allowing their voice to be heard gives them the ability to shape the vision of their company the way the want.

In addition to this, both sites are up to date allowing for the viewer to feel confident that they are receiving accurate information; a corporation having a stagnant website or blog is worse than it not having one at all.

The J&J Twitter and Facebook accounts also make great attempts to be interactive often creating posts posed as questions in order to generate conversation. An example tweet is seen below:

This tactic of using social media to generate buzz and conversation can be extremely successful if used correctly. The company’s website promotes Twitter campaigns and sponsored hashtags, increasing visibility and the likeliness of consumer participation.

One aspect that Johnson & Johnson may be able to improve upon is personally replying, on the Twitter or Facebook pages, to follower’s replies to these sort of tweets. For instance, if a follower is to reply something along the lines of “I paid it forward at the gas station to someone whose credit card was declined” J&J could reply, on their Twitter page,  “Great to hear, XYZ. Keep the good karma going! –JJ”. You will notice that I included a dash and initials. It is important to include the aspect of who actually replied to the tweet in order to give the response a sense of authenticity; the company could have a specific individual who responds to all of the tweets for consistency purposes, or team of responders.

One of the most stand-out aspects of Johnson & Johnson’s social media repertoire is its YouTube account. The company uses this account to share videos about healthy mind programs, talks given by J&J’s CEO, annual reports/shareholder reports, promotions (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukz74aLMvhc), etc. Having such a plethora of visual information all on one platform could prove extremely beneficial for the company. The likeliness of an individual to click on a second J&J YouTube video after viewing one is somewhat high. 

The company is also able to measure consumer feedback via the number of views and the comments that are left on the video. The comment feature is yet another way for J&J to be part of the conversation with their consumers and rectify misinformation that may be posted. 

The corporation’s wide social media outreach is a smart and effective way to interact with both current and potential consumers of their products. Mothers serve as one of Johnson & Johnson’s target audiences; with statistics showing that women today are becoming mothers sooner, the ability of communicating with this particular age group via the media most popular to them is an incredibly vital and smart tactic. With small tweaks here and there, Johnson & Johnson’s social media plan could increase consumer engagement and, in turn, increase sales and revenue.

First Look

As a student and public relations major I wished to create a blog designed to take a critical look at Johnson & Johnson from a public relations standpoint. Johnson and Johnson is a household name in many American homes including my own growing up. The longevity of this company alone is enough to catch my attention and warrant further investigation.

Johnson & Johnson is an American multinational pharmaceutical company, that produces consumer packaged goods, and a medical device manufacturer founded in 1886. This consumer health company’s products are used in homes, hospitals, laboratories, etc. Having more than two hundred and fifty companies located in sixty countries, Johnson & Johnson is organized into several business segments comprised of franchises and therapeutic categories.

One of the most infamous crises to have occurred to Johnson and Johnson is the Tylenol scandal. This crisis, however, unlike many other crises to have hit multimillion-dollar corporations, did not tarnish the brand. In fact, this potentially detrimental incident ended up being used by many corporations as an example of the right way to handle a crisis while preserving consumer trust.

It is important to note the way Johnson & Johnson handled the Tylenol scandal. For that, as far as “issues” go regarding this company’s reputation, their compassion and transparency has resonated to consumers throughout the years. Their stands strong as being an honorable, trusting, recognizable brand.

Johnson & Johnson has a strong social media presence that allows them to easily communicate both their mission and products to the consumer. For instance, they have created twitter handles for a variety of their products and campaigns so that listeners can view the specific twitter feed catered to what relates best to them (i.e. @JNJCares, @JNJNews, @JNJParents). In addition, their company blog is a gateway to two-way communication between both employees and consumers. This blog also gives the consumer insight into company culture. Johnson & Johnson also have a strong Facebook presence with 638,572 likes on their page and notable consumer interaction. However, the conversation on this particular platform seems to be more one-way; if company executives were to respond to Facebook comments more frequently, Johnson and Johnson’s social media footprint would be even more impactful.

An overall challenge for a public relations firm representing Johnson and Johnson would be to keep the brand as reputable as it has stood for centuries. As Andy Gilman has said, “The secret of crisis management is not the good versus the bad, it’s preventing the bad from getting worse”.