As we noted back in May, social media-savvy parents and caregivers roasted Pampers for allegedly causing rashes with its new Dry Max formulation on Facebook and Twitter.Five months later, a statement was posted on the Pampers website (from Jodi Allen, vice president of North America Baby Care at P&G) refuting those charges.

The Pampers website also includes testimonials from doctors and videos (such as this one from July) which are cross-posted to P&G’s YouTube channel to counter the barbs still flying across the digital aisle on Facebook, such as the still-active Recall Pampers Dry Max Diapers! group.

Still, the hue and cry has died down considerably, and it seems P&G has mollified enough moms to recover a wounded brand image and relaunch an improved Dry Max diaper. It’s been interesting these past few months to watch the journey of a consumer leviathan thrust into the social media spotlight, particularly in today’s democratized digital environment where netizens increasingly wield word-of-mouth clout via social media.

With Pampers being the jewel in P&G’s brand crown, the besieged diaper brand leveraged all the digital resources in its arsenal and used the very means (social media) that created an echo chamber for the Dry Max drama to soothe the roiled waters.

Now, P&G is turning back to Facebook in an innovative twist for the Pampers brand. The company just announced they’ll be joining the newest Facebook ecommerce initiative and start selling diapers in an Amazon-powered e-store on its Facebook page, driving retail sales through the latest "shop now" tab.

FRIENDING FACEBOOK

Amazon – the single most powerful ecommerce brand on the planet – is powering a new tab on the Pampers Facebook page that lets consumers shop for diapers without leaving the site. It’s the first P&G brand to launch a Facebook store, a natural fit and an opportunity — through creating a unique utility for consumers — to transform its Facebook presence from a social media battleground.

The announcement arrives just a few months after the brand's success with its Facebook pre-sale of Pampers Cruisers with Dry Max, which sold out its 1000-pack allotment in less than an hour. The e-commerce capabilities will first be leveraged by Amazon.com. While Pampers is the first P&G brand to introduce a gateway to e-commerce shopping capabilities via a Facebook "shop now" tab, P&G plans on expanding this offering to other brands' Facebook pages and retailers in the coming months.

Jodi Allen, P&G’s Pampers brand manager, comments on the move:

"The launch of the Facebook e-commerce capabilities via the Pampers fan page presents another example of how Pampers strives to be there for parents where they live, work and play - in this case, at one of their favorite online communities."

"We are so thrilled to have such a dynamic, active community on our Facebook page, and want to find ways to provide benefits to our most loyal fans. Plus, we are also excited to be the first P&G brand to launch these resources and are looking forward to rolling this out to other brand Facebook pages in the future."

The Facebook app is powered by Amazon’s new webstore ecommerce platform, and enables item selection, descriptions, reviews and checkout options inside the Facebook page. By merely clicking on a "shop now" tab, anyone on Facebook can now order Pampers, paying via their Amazon account.

Analysts see this small step as the next big revenue prospect for Facebook. "We view the integration of Amazon webstores on Facebook as adding a meaningful new source of leads at essentially no cost; however, over time we would expect Facebook to levy a referral fee similar to the fee now charged on the sale of virtual items," comments Lazard Capital Markets Analyst Colin Sebastian.

Sebastian also cited “unnamed industry contacts as pegging Facebook's revenue this year at about $2 billion, driven, in part by advertising and virtual item sales.”

The ease of instant, impulse shopping from inside Facebook moves the needle on social media ecommerce. As more brands build webshops on Facebook, the pool of paid advertising and promotion will grow. "It drives people to 'like' the brand and increases the value of the earned media that advertisers get from their dollars spent," says Matt Lawson, Marin VP of marketing.

Additional revenue generators for brands like Pampers leveraging Facebook include game credits, third-party ecommerce sites, local coupons, brand advertising, and search ads. We will be watching as P&G inevitably brings more of its brands onto Facebook, in addition to seeing how consumers take to Pampers new service-oriented Facebook presence.