Follow Skittles Lead, Or Have More of a Strategy?

This Monday Skittles tried its hand at the power of social media by re-launching their website by using Twitter as a landing page.  The site itself was created by the many different Tweets that were sent out regarding Skittles.  This was a risky experiment for Skittles because obviously the people on Twitter could tweet anything that they chose about Skittles.  It didn't have to be true, good or positive, it could be anything. 

Skittles also landed their site on other social media pages created for its marketing plot, including Facebook, YouTube Flickr, and Wikipedia.  Obviously the marketing option may "seem" like a good one, but it is definitely a risky one since the fact is "anything" could happen.  They were leaving their results to the masses and negativity could ensue, not to mention the spamming which could obviously take place as a result. 

So, while using social media has its positive attributes, it also obviously needs to be used wisely in order to make the most of it.  Would you leave your marketing to the masses?  Or would you rather be strategic with your social media use to make sure it is worthwhile?  The answer is up to you?

Photo Credit *MIcky