Domino's Pizza – Why Fast Reaction Is Important

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 508.

Famous Social Media Crises and Their Solutions

Social media and crisis management

Social media allow for consumers to be in constant communication about people, products and events.

As social networks continue to grow, they are incorporating more people across the globe each day.

Now, more than ever before, it is important for PR professionals to be involved and aware of the constant chatter. When people get angry, they take to the web.

The undeniable truth about consumers in the 21st century: They trust their peers. With each bad tweet or Facebook post comes (not a thousand) thousands more. Once started, if not handled correctly, that small instance of rage that originated in a small town in Idaho can quickly to travel to China and India. That's when it begins to have a lasting effect.

For this reason, it is important that PR departments understand a social media crisis when they see one. Furthermore, PR professionals need to know how to handle such a crisis.

Consider a few of the most famous examples a PR department had to face because of a “network outbreak” of complaints, and then consider how it should have been dealt with by the company:

The Problem: On April 15, 2009, two Domino's Pizza employees placed prank videos on YouTube that showed them (of) stuffing cheese up their nose at work. They proceeded to place the contaminated food back on the sandwich made for a customer. As you can imagine, they were breaking health code violations left and right. These videos that disgusted millions of YouTube viewers went viral. Within days twitter was lit up with customer complaints. Though Dominos placed their own president in a reactionary YouTube video to provide an apology, the damage had been done.

The Solution: This is a key example of social media use that can quickly become destructive. In this particular situation, Dominos reacted less than great. Most were wondering if strict background checks were in the future, but they didn't hear back from the company for two days. Furthermore, most of the complaints were happening on Twitter, but the apology was happening on the mainstream press. This caused the issue to continue far longer than necessary.